Despite Peru’s early and extreme shut down measures for over five months, we now have the world’s highest death rate per capita and climbing. The Peruvian government has extended quarantine another 30 days and tightened up restrictions again, and the borders are still closed.
Even so, the hardware and building material stores are open again, so this has been a very productive month for us! We have a lot of “irons in the fire”right now. Vann cleared and broke ground for the new cabin going in at the camp. He has planted more electrical posts to string electricity to the cabins and bathhouse, as well as running pipe from the camp well to the bathhouse. He ordered more solar panels for another array, and we have finally begun building the brick walls for the new house in the missionary housing project! Due to Vann’s tennis elbow injury from building the table, rockwork is hard on him, so progress on the pavilion is going slowly. He and Corynn built a planter in front of the pool bathrooms to practice building with river rock – which is a new skill to him – before he builds the pavilion posts, and it is beautiful!
Speaking of new skills, Vann has butchered his first steer that was born and raised on our farm. Not an easy thing to do, but worth it to feed our family and our hospitality ministry! We certainly couldn’t have done it without the skilled and helping hands of our dear neighbors – that was a big job! Oh, and I made pâté, and learned how to cut up and prepare beef heart for anticuchos– yum!
The Juniors and Seniors from Sam Academy and our kids had begun to paint our house to help raise funds for a trip that they were planning before graduation this past Spring. The trip has been indefinitely postponed due to Covid, but they have learned a marketable skill, and we have a painted house!
Our children have started another year of school - Corynn is a senior, Ethan is a junior and Clara is in eighth grade! Their education has not been affected by the quarantine at all since they were already homeschooling last year and had adjusted to the discipline and self-motivation needed for online school. Corynn and Ethan are still working on their dual enrollment classes with the goal of graduating high school with their associate degrees. It is a lot of work, and we are very proud of them.
Thank you for your prayers for us. We are running on them as much as we do the food for our physical bodies, so please continue covering us in prayer for the mission, Vann’s elbow, and wisdom for Corynn’s upcoming life and college decisions. Thank you also for your faithful and generous giving to help keep us going, to build this mission base, and to be channels of blessing to those in need. We pray for you – that you would stand firm, fight the good fight of the faith in these chaotic times and look to Jesus who is our only hope.
“The Christian need not dread sickness, for he has nothing to lose, but everything to gain, by death.” – Charles Spurgeon