Oh dear friends. How sorry I am. We have not written you since August and I admit the culprit has mostly been a glumpy mood (Is that a word in your household??). What do you you write when you don’t feel like writing? I know others have felt it…it has been months of blah. We have heard it and felt it from our friends and family. More mask wearing…blah…more virtual school…blah…limited gatherings…blah, blah, blah.
It is so easy to be in a funk when so much of the world around us is blah. To try and get out of my horrible mood, I forced myself to do a Thanksgiving devotion during the month of November. I cringe as I write that, but it is the truth. Have you ever trudged into the Word? Can I tell you one of my most thankful blessings this year is that we have a God that opens His arms to us no matter how we tumble back to Him, and beyond that, a God that WAITS patiently for us to do so.
One of the beautiful gems I stumbled on during this devotion time was a quote from Ann Voskamp.
We give thanks to God not because of how we feel, but because of who He is. God calls us not to only give thanks, but to do thanks. To *give thanks away* that our Thanks-giving might literally become Thanks-living.
How beautiful would it be for us all to DO thanks…to literally live in a position of constant thanks for WHO GOD IS? Because if we wade through all the muck the world has thrown at us lately, and dig really deep, we can truly see that GOD IS GOOD. Not because He always rescues us from these blah circumstances, but because He is bigger than our circumstances and is working all of out to the good of those who love Him.
I may not see it everyday, but as we enter into the precious Christmas season I am choosing to believe it and I hope you will too.
So what are we thankful for right now…what blessings can I dig from the yuck to share with you…
Our high schoolers are back in school!! Yay! Though the elementary and middle schoolers are not yet old enough to meet the government regulations, we rejoice that we have been able to have the high schoolers come in for small, limited classes. Gatherings, including church and school, are still not legal, but because of our super, small size we have been able to allow the kids to come and have socially distanced class together. This has boosted their moral SOO much! It has been wonderful to see the change in some kids´ personas just being able to do school with friends and teachers again. Continue to pray with us for the health of our kids and that the rest of the school would be permitted to join them soon.
We have a GORGEOUS new science lab. I can´t believe the before and after! Check out this beautiful room that emerged from a dump of a storage room after lots and lots of hard work and dedicated volunteers. Having more space for classes is a huge blessing!
The After! 
Working on a nearby room’s rotting floor 
Getting the outside patched and spruced 
The before…a total mess.
…And we continue to be thankful for those same volunteers as several of the dads jumped in to help us rescue our library. A large termite nest was found above the library and with less activity at the school, I guess they found it safe to invade. My heart hurt as we threw out so many of our precious books. But the nest has been eradicated and superboard put over the wood to keep a future invasion from happening. Now we have to paint and reorganize the shelves. Mike reminds me that we are foreigners in their territory. *sigh* Such is school in the jungle!
The middle school has started a youth group which meets separately from school. Two of our single teachers have been instrumental in this and it has been so uplifting to see the ways the kids have opened their hearts to them. I thank God for godly examples here on the field that are investing and pouring into the lives of these wonderful kids. 2020 has taken such a toll on our kids. Pray with us for this “safe place” where they can open up and come close to God through the leadership of these wonderful teachers and parents.
In a couple of weeks, our high schoolers who meet the age requirement to be out, will join with the teachers to deliver wreaths and Christmas baskets to elderly Peruvians in our area. Though it won’t be the same as our normal Christmas outreach, we are so glad to be able to spread some Christmas cheer. Older people here (And I know in the States as well) have been heavily affected by this time of quarantine and isolation so we hope to brighten their spirits with a visit and gifts. Each student hand-made a wreath to send so we could all take part in some way. Pray for this special time of encouragement!
We ask for your prayers as Peru sees political turmoil just as the States has. If you follow the news at all you may have seen that we had three different presidents in the course of two weeks. We pray that President Sagasti will be wise in handling Peru’s COVID restrictions as our State of Emergency has been extended into March 2021…a full year from when it started. We keep the faith that things will continue to get better and we cling to the positives we find each day.
We also ask for prayers against Dengue and Typhoid. COVID is not our only health concern in Pucallpa and many have fallen sick to these other diseases recently. We pray God’s protection on our area.
Dear friends, as we enter Christmas, may we be challenged to embrace Thanks-living and spreading joy through our thankfulness in all circumstances. We are working on it here this side of the equator poco-a-poco, little by little, and we hope you will too. We love you dearly. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Family of 4 Serving 1 