3 Visits in 3 Months from Back Home

28 April 2018

So far this year we have had 3 lots of visitors from Australia.  With this we have been blessed.  

Mum and Dad from Perth

Firstly we had the lovely honour of Sandi’s parents visiting us for the month of February and into early March.  They came to experience our everyday life and join us in serving here in Curahuasi.  And we think they did! J

The day before Mum and Dad arrived we made a spontaneous pet baby Alpaca purchase.  We bought “Milkshake” from a Quechua lady that we spotted in a Cusco main square (Plaza de Armas).  She was using him to make money from tourists posing for photos in traditional Quechua dress.  It was the cutest, soft and big brown eyed pet you could imagine. So we had the fun of surprising Mum and Dad at the airport with all of us and our new pet Milkshake.  It made for a fun 2.5 hour mountainous drive home.

 

The Quechua lady we purchased “Milkshake” from in Cusco with Sarah and Isaac patting him

The kids with our new Alpaca “Milkshake”

 A Rescue Mission

On their second night here, we were grateful for our parent’s help, as Dad accompanied Chris on a late night “rescue Sam” mission.  As it happened, on Sunday afternoon Sam went on a late afternoon road cycle up to the nearly 4,000m ASL peak near our house. The mountain night crept in and weather changed sooner than he expected.  It got dark, started to rain and the temperature dropped whilst thick cloud descended on the mountain.  Total blackness engulfed him. 

Sam then suffered exposure problems with the cold such that his fingers could not use the brakes to remount his bike and ride down the mountain.  The few cars that came past him in the following hour did not stop as Sam tried to hail them from the middle of the road.  In fact he had to jump over the steep bank to avoid being hit!  By this time his body was shaking and he was afraid for his life.  He approached some houses and yelled for help but no one opened their doors (it’s normal in the Andes culture not to stop the car for anyone or let anyone in the house out of fear).  Finally a man did open their door, resisting the ladies in the house who were trying to shut it closed again!  As the man recognised Sam as a white “gringo” from Diospi Suyana where he had himself once been given help as a patient.

The family nursed Sam in their humble cottage with hot tea and blankets.  After about an hour, Sam had recovered sufficiently and his fingers thawed out enough to access his smartphone and have their teenage son find Chris’ number.   This call was an answer to prayer as we did not know where Sam was along the 32km stretch of road!  Chris and Dad then set off on the rescue mission.  All ended well and we know without prayer, it could have ended so much worse!  And Sam no longer embarks on such rides in the afternoon! J

      

Kids Club Outreach

Mum and Dad jumped (or were put J) right into action.  We spent the afternoons of their first week here working at a children’s holiday outreach program.  Dad picked up some Spanish words and was able to help with kids craft groups and Mum was fantastic as a bible verse lesson assistant leader.  The kids and I were there helping too!  It was exciting to see many children accept Jesus into their hearts at the end of the week.

 

The holiday kids program at Diospi Suyana Club de Niños.

18 February was Sam’s birthday.  As a sign of respect to Sam our housekeeper, Rosita, cooked Sam a special Peruvian lunch. We had fun as she taught Dad some Spanish words and he taught her some Aussie lingo.

A Visit to Cusco

The third week of their visit we spent in Cusco. Chris had to work but he drove us to Cusco and returned to Curahuasi the next day. It was God’s perfect timing that we were away this week.  Chris returned home early in the morning to find an excavator digging up our driveway (without notice) as they were installing new water pipes.  So our 200m long driveway was impassable by car for the indefinite future.  But at least because we had gone to Cusco our car was on the road end of our driveway and not in our garage!  And it was still the wet season meaning Chris spent the week traipsing through mud to get to our house with no water! J. 

The wet season also causes many landslides along the main Panamericana Highway because of steep unsupported excavations, with no exception being the section between Curahuasi and Cusco.  Here is a rock that came down on this piece of road during Mum & Dad’s visit that we frequently travel (but fortunately we were not at that moment in time!).

Landslide on the highway to Cusco

While in Cusco we house-sat for friends and spent some lovely days together.  On one day Sam was tour guide for Mum and Dad visiting Machu Picchu.

 

Pa and Sam at the legendary Machu Picchu

When Chris came to pick us up, we visited a Perú native animal sanctuary near Cusco.  We saw the pumas, bears, monkeys, wildcats, condors and more animals indigenous to the region. 

  

When we arrived back in Curahuasi we found our driveway had turned into a very long mud puddle.  The boys/men carried the suitcases on their heads up to the house and we had a lovely week at home, trapped there by mud!  We were able to park on the main highway and walk to the house, but couldn’t drive in for the next 4 weeks.  A wheel barrow was great for transporting shopping!  But we were grateful for the pipe work to improve our water availability (albeit later we found out our sacrifices were not for our water/house at all but for our neighbours! J )

Here I drove up behind our “surprise excavator” on our driveway

More work on the driveway with our family carrying our bags up the hill after a 200m walk

4WD access only! (we got bogged trying to pass this with our van)

Grandma and Pa also drove with Chris and Sam to nearby Abancay to see Sam race on his road bike.  Although when passing through the treacherous Abancay streets, Chris swerves to avoid a semi-trailer on a narrow road and then BANG!  The front passenger side wheel falls into one of the many drains that are missing covers on the side of the road.  But there is no roadside service in these parts of Peru, and not even any tow trucks.  So a group of men came to our rescue, to lift the car up a bit at a time until I had slid enough large rocks under the wheel in the drain so we could simply drive away.

Carrying our racing gear including Sam’s bike down our undriveable driveway

Our van stuck in a hole in Abancay

We made sure they had many local experiences whilst they were here.  We ate local food, much Peruvian chocolate, tried the famous Inca Kola and of course Cuy (roasted Guinea pig).  We visited the thermal springs and our local (very cold) swimming pool.  They toured the hospital and school.  Mum and Dad bought us a cricket set, and we have had fun teaching German friends how to play this beloved game of ours.

 

Cuy (Guinea pig) is not everyone’s preference but you have to try it at least once!

On 1 March the kids started back at school.  Mum and Dad were here for their first day. Solomon is trying again this year.  I think he will cope well.

Team Welch’s first day back at school for 2018

We loved having them visit. It was a special time and we made many Peru memories together.

Bill and Carolyn from PHCS

From 16 to 19 April, we had two teachers from Pacific Hills Christian School in Sydney visit Curahuasi. Pacific Hills, and in particular principal Dr Boyce, have been a faithful blessing to the Diospi Suyana School.  Bill and Carolyn came to spend time with the Diospi school teachers, sharing with them about integrating God into school life. They had numerous sessions speaking to students also.  The kids loved hearing Bills testimony about his Dad growing up in impoverished Greece, and were encouraged in the importance of pursuing an education for the good of their families as well as their own futures.

Carolyn presents to the Diospi Colegio seniors

We shared some lovely time with them here in our farmhouse too. Our kids, Chris and I were very blessed by their friendship and encouragement. Also by the suitcase of Australian treats, school books and of course the kangaroo and koala costume they brought with them!

Carolyn, Bill, Chris and Sandi

Henri & Halyn

Friends Henri and Halyn and their youngest son Benji then arrived in quick succession days later.  (As background: Chris and Jake initially embarked on our first and life changing short term mission trip to Cambodia with Henri and his son Sam in Easter of 2014.  This was run by Pacific Hills Christian School for year 9 students, hosted by Samaritan’s Purse in Cambodia).

We were blessed to enjoy some more Aussie / NZ company as we showed them around Diospi Suyana and Curahuasi.  Benji was brave and spent a day at school with Sarah’s class. We had some great fellowship catching up on our respective lives since we left Australia.  They have big mission hearts and took opportunity to bless and invest in people here in Curahuasi.

In the middle of their stay, they took time out to do Machu Picchu (as most do for obvious reasons).

Henri also cooked up some Thai food in our kitchen when we mentioned it is not found in Peru outside of Lima and one of the things we missed about Australia.  This was after we climbed the 1km high “hill” behind our house with 5 of our kids.  And together replaced the rope on the tree swing in our front yard which our younger kids have appreciated ever since.

Almost as quickly as they arrived, they were off again on the second part of their journey.

Time for a quick group photo after the Diospi Suyana morning chapel service

Love to all,

Sandi & Chris

A Recap of Where We are Up To Now

01 March 2018

Last Wednesday night at 6:28pm on 28 February, I succeeded in completing Intelsat IS-14 commissioning of the Diospi Suyana satellite uplink in Curahuasi.  This is a great milestone for our media project as it sets the stage for the program to distribute to the FM transmission sites.  

It also means our Gospel radio program will now reach all of Latin America via satellite – some 400,000,000 Spanish speaking people!  Albeit homes would need a 2.4m sized C-Band satellite dish of which there are a few about.  More commonly seen on hotels.  I have no official figures on how many, but even if only 0.1% have such a satellite dish pointed at Intelsat 14 (my estimate), this still bolsters our hearers by 400,000 people.  However keeping in mind that our primary purpose of the satellite is to deliver our programme to our FM transmission sites.  There is insufficient telecommunication infrastructure in Perú to achieve this reliably or economically by other means.

Intelsat IS-14 C-Band satellite beam coverage used by our Diospi Suyana radio carrier.

Preparations being made for the satellite commissioning with Intelsat earlier in the day.

Final technical planning in my office.

Here is a link to a Diospi post that Klaus put up last week http://www.diospi-suyana.de/diospi-suyana-uplink-mit-satelliten-verbunden/?lang=en

And the Pioneers Australia OARF committee made an AUD $10,000 grant to our broadcast project (I understand in response to my last internal OARF progress report).  What a great blessing, as this enabled us to purchase the remaining components of our remote site telemetry system for site security and service monitoring.  It will save countless hours in travelling to make personal visits to check up on our distant FM transmission sites. 

The telemetry equipment is in two parts; one from ND Satcom in Germany via the next Diospi Suyana shipping container due to arrive in Curahuasi in May.  And the other from Maximation in Australia, due to arrive in Curahuasi in April.

On the FM transmission front, we are well on the way to rolling out our first 5 transmission sites – Curahuasi, Andahuylas, Chincheros/Uripa, Puno and Puerto Maldonado.  With the exception of Curahuasi which is already broadcasting FM and TV, the other 4 sites are constructed but without the transmission equipment yet installed.  The equipment racks are built and power is connected to the sites.  But we await cables, connectors and antenna mounting accessories which we ordered some 3 months ago now – painfully slow supply times in comparison to Australia. 

Approximately 75% of Diospi Suyana patients come from the above noted regions.  Some 220,000 patients in all have been attended to at Diospi Suyana since October 2007. 

Our 6^th site Echarati is awaiting the ratification of the FM license transfer by the Perú regulator MTC to Diospi Suyana before we can proceed with the construction.  It has been a long wait but we are hopeful it will come about soon.

Here are our 6 Diospi Suyana Mechanical Dept. made equipment racks in readiness for installation at our 6 remote transmission sites.

The six initial FM transmission sites are shown on the following map and table; 

Moreover Klaus plans a wider expansion of the Diospi Suyana network in the future – subject to licensing and funding of course.  These future sites are (with populations in brackets); Cusco (450,000), Abancay (100,000), Sicuani (50,000), Quillabamba (30,000), Juliaca (250,000) and Anta Province (60,000).  This would bring the total number of Diospi Suyana broadcast transmission sites to 11 and with a total FM radio audience reach of 1,570,000 people. 

Note Cusco is a key market for Diospi Suyana, but FM licenses normally cost in the order of $500,000 so we are very much in faith believing for this funding in the future.

Thank you for your prayers and support – not overlooking that also from my amazing wife and family whilst on mission here in Perú.

Regards,

Chris

We Have Been in Curahuasi for Just Over a Year Now

We have been in Curahuasi for just over one year now. It is time to share with you what each of us has been involved in on our mission journey so far.

Chris… Is truly amazing!  He has written many blogs about his work at Diospi Suyana Media Centre. He is working hard, travelling many mountain miles to establish the radio and TV network for Diospi.  There are stories already of isolated villages being blessed by the teams’ work.  At home he is still amazing! He can fix or build anything and he has needed to! Often into the night he is repairing the water pump so we have water or replacing parts on our Peruvian appliances that often need repairing. 

Chris leads us all in God.  He continues to read the bible to us most days and we pray together as a family.  Many responsibilities fall on the hands of the Dad and he is always working out the next step.  At work he is coping well with a culture that operates so differently to Australian engineering standards.  Like me, this is our year to improve his Spanish!

Sandi… I like this place where God has us! I couldn’t always say that.  In the beginning it was scary at home and in town.  I can remember the first tour I had of our village - a missionary friend offered to drive me around the village, after a few minutes I had to say thanks but that’s enough… she took me to her house and gave me a cup of tea and some Nurofen.  I have come a long way since then.  I can honestly say now that our farmhouse is rustically amazing and absolutely a blessing for our family.  We spent the first three months renovating madly and installing a kitchen, and inside hot and cold water and reliable electricity… now we are having fun… with the vegetable patch and garden and I know how to shop and cook.  I have to make bread for us and most things from scratch.  Here we have a big lunch and simpler dinner at night time.

I have been Mum this year and the manager of many people.  The house is never empty here, there are family, friends, workers and the farmers who work alongside our house in the fields.  It is lovely and also stretching!  God has been faithful in extending my patience and flexibility and I hope helping us bless many people.  I don’t like to send the workers home empty handed or hungry so I have spent much fun time cooking and learning about high altitude baking.

I meet weekly with a group of missionary mums to cover our families and Diospi in prayer.  God has been so faithful in protecting us here from harm. We have had a constant bout of challenges, from scabies and typhoid to bike crashes and tarantulas!  There are many cultural frustrations.  There is nothing quite as frustrating as driving out of our driveway ready for something to find the highway blocked for hours with no notice.  One day after dropping the kids at school at 7am the road was blocked on our way home. I decided not to wait it out in our car, so we left the car and walked home.  We looked a sight, little white kids in pyjamas and no shoes walking down the highway!

I have to admit that my Spanish is terrible!  I can understand much and speak little… but this is the year I WILL learn.  We were able to have our Peruvian Pastor present the gospel to our house keeper.  She has not decided to follow Jesus… yet. In the last year I have learnt much about God, about how much he loves us and am learning daily that his joy truly is our strength. 

Jake… Jake spent the year sharing his many talents with many!  It was a hard year for him, he missed Australia but he made a difference whilst he was here and many local kids cried when he left!  

He was involved in many things.

Jake worked for 6 months at the Diospi Suyana Media Centre, 3 days a week. He was part of a live youth radio program three times a week and he edited many music programs and promos and was the technician for live and studio radio recordings.  He did this so well and was a valued part of the team.  God’s timing in Jake being here was perfect.

For 6 months Jake played keyboard for our Peruvian church on Sunday mornings and then for the English church service on Sunday nights.  He DJ’ed for our town’s ultimate Frisbee outreach on Wednesday nights where his music style and enthusiasm was loved – encouraging them all to play better.

Jake became friends with a local teenager and taught him basic computer skills and also how to make music on his computer.

He ran an afterschool chess club once a week in the Diospi Colegio.  It was attended by many children and he was an expert at settling them down and actually teaching them chess. They loved him.

Jake enjoyed the amazing environment here.  He did many hikes, up volcanoes, down canyons and across mountain ranges.  He also loved Inca Kola and is the only one of us so far to eat the local speciality of guinea pig (Cuy).

As well as all of this, Jake studied successfully for his Australian university entrance and will be studying a Bachelor of Business in 2018.  Jake returned to Australia in December 2017 and is setting himself up for University on the Gold Coast and catching up with missed friends. We miss him here but are so thankful that he was part of our journey in Peru.

 

Jake in radio “talk-back” with Caroley Rojas

Jake’s chess club junior class

  Press Play to hear Jake on Diospi Suyana Curahuasi radio FM 103.7

The School Kids… Sam, Isaac, Sarah and Georgia were definitely brave and courageous in 2107.  They went to “real” school for the first time in their lives and it was all in Spanish AND in the breaks the other missionary kids spoke German!  They have learnt so much about different cultures and languages and about themselves and about how God can be trusted!  Nothing will ever be too hard for them again!  So yes it has been a tough year for them but they helped each other and really did amazingly.  They had a mix of Peruvian, German and Austrian teachers with different teaching styles and different curriculums.  Our kids didn’t have to do all the Peruvian subjects and so a bonus for us was the English room.  It’s a dedicated classroom that we could use to do their Australian schoolwork.  This was such a blessing as it also gave them a place to visit when they needed a language break or time to cry and rest.  Our kids ended up in classes with few other or no missionary kids, this was in the end a blessing as they made Peruvian friends and had to speak Spanish!

The Diospi Colegio (school) is fantastic and the teachers were very patient with our family!  Each day started at 7:30am… for those that know us well you can imagine the shock to our home schooling body clocks!  The school gates shut at 7:30am and then the guard swapped the early arrivals green stamp for the latecomers red stamp… I think our kids’ entry record diaries are exactly half green and half red!

It was a frustrating year, with the language barriers we spent most of the year not having a clue what was on or what the homework was.  We also just didn’t understand the thinking behind their communication… all the culturally unspoken, assumed information we missed!  For example, Sarah went on a school camp for two nights and we asked what to bring.  We were told just normal camp stuff like clothes and your hairbrush… we didn’t realise that meant her own food!  Her teacher and friends had to share theirs with her!

As the year went on and the kids Spanish improved, their half understanding and growing confidence made them dangerous!  For example if a rehearsal was on Friday at 2pm they told me Thursday at 4pm.  We were often sitting at the school gates waiting…. It seems silly, but Peru is a verbal culture and school notes to take home were rare.

They all made friends and by the end of the year all had had friends home to play.  A play date meant that we picked up the friends at the school and dropped them back to the school.  There was no checking with Peruvian parents, the kids were always there waiting.  I did say no to the friend’s smaller siblings coming along, as they tried to jump in the car as I thought their parents might wonder where they were.  Our trampoline and cute younger sisters were a great drawcard for many Peruvian kids!

We have been very blessed since September to have Benedikt, a 19 year old German in his second ‘gap year’ as a volunteer come to Curahuasi to help our kids at school.  He acts as teacher in the English room and ensures that our kids get their Australian Maths and English work completed.  This has helped me a lot as I don’t need to go in with our 3 younger ones not yet at school.  Benedikt also eats lunch with us after school and hangs out at our house, teaches the girls piano and is a wonderful blessing all of the time!  He assists with sport classes at school and also sings in our Peruvian church band and also in a Diospi weekly chapel service band.  He is enjoying his time in Curahuasi so much he has extended his stay until July 2018.  We are blessed.

Our kids have invested into the school culture and introduced handball to the playground.  It had never been played here before.  We had bought one handball and now it has grown into a break time craze and calmed down the previously crazy and troublesome school yard.  The Australians have impressed the principal! J

Sam

Sam is a school student here but also very much part of the Diospi Suyana Hospital mission as well as he participates in events and is friends with many German volunteers and missionaries.

Sam has amazing Spanish and we often have to use him as our translator with our housekeeper and with the many farmers that come to our front door, our pastor… anyone really!  Sam has also been taking German lessons one day a week!  Language is proving to be a gift to him that we never expected.  It has been exciting to see him mature and do so well. 

Sam has embraced the opportunities God has for him here and plays guitar, sings, participates in sport and continues his cycling.

The Diospi Hospital starts each day with a chapel service for staff and patients.  Sam gets two hours’ off school each Thursday to play in the worship band.  He also plays in our Peruvian church band and the English service band on Sundays.

Sam has had many adventures - joining Jake on many hikes and travelling to Bolivia with Benedikt and other places with friends for the weekend.  Cycling is still Sam’s passion and he still loves to get up early in the morning and go for a training ride.  He can even cycle up a Curahuasi mountain and still be at school on time!  He has entered and won many local races and is a mentor to local riders. Our church has begun holding outreach bike races.

Sam was in year 10 in 2017 and will do year 11 in 2018.  This is the final year in the Peruvian schooling system.  Sam was in a small class of 13 Peruvian students.  The other kids were all culturally very different to him but Sam tried hard to make friends and help them. We had the boys in his class over one night for a Christian movie, pizza and a camp out.

He is always ready to help out where it is needed, from guitar playing to setting out furniture for a function or giving his testimony.  He has learnt that God is indeed faithful!

 

Sam at the end of a 63km open road race in Abancay (2km above sea level)

Sam plays guitar and Benedikt sings in our Peruvian church 

Isaac… has been very faithful to his project of setting up a bee hive that we brought from Australia. It has been an adventure, others have been stung but not him!  He worked hard at school, Spanish came a little harder to him but he has persisted so well.  Isaac participated in many things with a great attitude this year and is learning so very much.  He is a great friend to our neighbour’s son.

Sarah… This was her ‘’promocion” year’- year 6 the last year of primary school.  It is a big deal here in Peru.  She went to Machu Picchu with her class and attended a graduation dinner.  She had a very special year with a very understanding Peruvian teacher.  She has learnt some Quecha dances and enjoys performing wearing the beautiful Quecha dresses.

Sarah has loved our farm and looking after the animals here. We have 12 chickens, two rabbits, two dogs, two cats and have had two litters of puppies and one litter of kittens.

 

Sarah dressed for a Quechua dance

Georgia… Is growing into a beautiful young lady.  She is now 9 years old.  She had a lovely Peruvian teacher but it often felt like she was given more homework last year than all of the other kids combined.  The upside is she has beautiful Peruvian handwriting J.  Her teacher had a baby this year, and returned quickly back to school bringing the baby into the class each day.  Georgia loved this.

Solomon… Solomon turned 7 in December and is growing into a definite gentleman.  He has lots of charm and wit. He started school but after a few weeks it was too much for him so he came home for the year.  At the same time he participated in many school activities such as Jake’s chess club and visited the English room to work with Benedikt.  He will try again in 2018.  He has been teaching our house keeper English and learning Spanish from her!

 

Solomon collects snow in the Andes in his drink bottle for mum

Jessica… Spent the year dancing!  She is 4 years old and had the confidence to join a dance class run by a lovely German young lady called Emily.  She performed with the dance group at school assemblies and if she wasn’t part of the dance she had a way of making her way to the stage to dance anyway!

Stacey… is now one and a half years old.  She is so very sweet and is a blessing to everyone.  She is graceful by nature and handles beautifully being the centre of Peruvian attention whenever we are out (they dote on babies, especially blond babies).  She speaks her own toddler mix of English, Spanish and German!

Stacey aspiring to dance with her big sisters

Thank you for your prayers, support, Weet Bix and friendship!

With love,

Sandi 

Merry Christmas Link Fix

Dear All,

It seems that our Spanish Christmas song link did not appear in our latest blog email last night - sorry! 

So here is the link to our original blog post which works as was intended;

http://welchesinperu.blogspot.pe/2017/12/merry-christmas.html

Incidentally from our blog site you can also reflect back on any or all of our 52 posts from 2017.

Thanks,

Chris

Merry Christmas!

22 December 2017

Dear Family and friends,

We want to thank you all for your prayer and support in 2017.  We could not have accomplished what we have without you!  Peruvians are hearing the Gospel as Diospi Suyana radio broadcasts the love of Jesus in this place.

So let us take this moment to wish you a Merry Christmas Spanish style – please click on the below image (YouTube link), wind up the volume and sing along with us;

Love,

Chris & Sandi, Jake, Sam, Isaac, Sarah, Georgia, Solomon, Jessica and Stacey.

Juvenfest 2017

24 September 2017

Jake and Sam, among other musicians and singers from Diospi Suyana, performed at the first Curahuasi Juvenfest – a youth Christian musical outreach event for the area.  It was held in the Diospi Suyana school gymnasium where Jake performed his specialty as a DJ, going by his stage name “De Jake”. 

And Sam was part of the Diospi Suyana band with vocals.  They rehearsed almost every night for weeks leading up to the event, culminating in a night of good music, video, lights, dancing.

The wash down was that it was a great success and there was talk of other Juvenfests planned for Curahuasi.  The next may be in the Plaza de Armas (the town square) to reach further afield and enjoy a concert in the open space.

De Jake delivering his brand of song which the kids love.

Music, lights and dancing with De Jake.

The Diospi Suyana youth band that formed for the Juvenfest.

Sam, our standout singer.

Again Sandi and I were made very proud parents!

Blessings,

Chris

Our Lifesource Christian Church Pastoral Visit

16 September 2017

From Wednesday 13 to Friday 15 September, we had both the privilege and honour to host our amazing senior Lifesource pastor John Iuliano accompanied by our equally amazing friends Rod McGibbon and Ronny Marin from our home church in Chatswood, Sydney.  What a wonderful time of rejuvenation and encouragement it was for the whole family.

My son Solomon (6) and I drove to Cusco on the Wednesday to greet them at the airport, grab a bite of lunch and enjoy the time chatting for the 2 ½ hour journey to Curahuasi (it was so good to “speak normally” again J).  And where would a Perú road trip be without a typical Panamericana highway both direction closure for maintenance – this one at our iconic Apurimac River Bridge, about 30 minutes away from our home in Curahuasi.

Solomon standing in front of our Apurimac River bridge whilst we waited for it to be reopened for traffic.

We arrived home to dinner being cooked by our neighbour who is Peruvian chef.  He cooked Pachamanca (from Quechua pacha "earth", manka "pot") which is a traditional Peruvian dish based on baking with the aid of hot stones.  The meat is normally lamb, mutton, pork, chicken or guinea pig, marinated in spices.  We had mutton and chicken in ours.  Other Andean produce, such as potato, green lima beans, sweet potato, occasionally cassava or yuca, and humitas (sweet treat) as well as ears of corn, tamale and chili, is normally included in the baking.

BBQ Peruvian style “on the rocks” with the fire made beneath – here our chef cooks the Pachamanca meat.

We watch on as our Chef prepares our Pachamanca for dinner in our casa la hacienda back yard.

The Pachamanca cooked bananas and a selection of normal and sweet potatoes from local produce.

As evening came, we were blessed by what we called an “early Christmas” of Aussie goodies for the whole family.  Such as, but not limited to; Weet-Bix and Vegemite (I never thought I would miss this so much!), Aussie lollies (which tasted like real lollies should), Anzac biscuits, Tim Tams, Minties, Nurofen for Children, Dimetapp, some clothes from my mum & dad including PJs and shoes that fitted us (adult sizes in Perú don’t fit us as they are way too small).  For Sam there was cycling gear from his club in Sydney, NSCC.  And odd things like a toilet bag as mine broke and they are simply not available in Perú.

Specifically for me there was some hardware including kitchen drawer runners from my brother that actually work properly and not bind up like the local ones do!  For Sandi there was also special cooking ingredients that were simply not available in Perú.

And for the kids - there were new Schleich animal toys for Sarah, Georgia, Solomon and Jessica (they play with these for hours).  Oh and Frisbees and handballs for the kids to play with the locals.  Our kids have introduced handball into the school and it has transformed the place in recess and eliminated the troubles they used to have with the Peruvian kids.  It has taken off so much we needed more balls!  All stuff unavailable in Perú!  Thank you so much to Ps John, Rod and Ronny for loading up your bags so much with all this stuff!  And to Rod & Kirstie McGibbon whose house was the main collection point for us.

Our Jessica (4) excited about her face-painted handball☺.

Sam receives a needed cycling outfit that again fits him (at 16 he is growing fast).  This was a gift from his club – North Shore Cycling Club of Sydney.

Our cherished bounty of Aussie goods – a life support shipment for our family in Perú!

After our “opening party”, we called it a night as our weary travellers were understandably in need of some sleep.

Thursday morning started with the Diospi hospital’s 8:30 to 9:00am chapel service, including a meet and greet with the Diospi Suyana senior pastor Mariano Perez.  And then followed by a tour of Diospi Suyana hospital and media centre – see some photos taken.

Our Lifesource team visit of the Diospi Suyana hospital – here at the front entrance.

The hospital foyer where the patients watch the “Jesus” movie (in their local language) and Diospi Suyana TV whilst waiting for their medical appointments.

Ps John, Rod and Ronny in front of the Diospi Suyana 4x4 Unimog ambulance.

We had lunch back home and in the afternoon ventured into the Curahuasi shopping centre and nearby village to try and convey a bit of a feel for the people and countryside.

 

Curahuasi el Centro Comercial meat market. Note no refrigeration, so buy early in the morning to avoid illness!

The Curahuasi el Centro Comercial vegetable market - a typical stall.

Rod in front of a commonplace local school march around Curahuasi Plaza de Armes.

A typical residential street of Curahuasi – this one uphill from the Plaza de Armes.

The view overlooking Curahuasi with the 5,700 meter high snow-capped mountain backdrop and the grassy “Capitan Rumi” rising 400m from the town valley (with 1.3km steep drop-off on the other side down to the Apurimac River).

After which we returned home to another dinner cooked by our neighbouring chef – this time Peruvian Chaufa, essentially fried rice and chicken.  But no sooner had we finished eating then we rushed off to our Curahuasi church, Morada de Dios, as Ps John was giving a sermon on leadership. It was very well received by all in the small church with thanks to Ronny who did an amazing job interpreting for Ps John with passion.  It was also good for Ps John to meet and talk to our Perú pastor, Tomas Ascarza Chaparro.

Ps John delivering his message on leadership at our Morada de Dios church with Ronny doing an amazing job at interpreting with meaning.

The evening ended with an old fashioned supper of hot chocolate after church at our house and bed.

Friday was back to the Diospi hospital chapel service, but this time for Ps John to deliver the 20 minute gospel message, again with Ronny interpreting into Spanish.  Then a call for salvation by Ps John whereby all but 100% of the Quechua patients of the 200 or more packed into the chapel that day immediately raised their hands and stood up!  It was hard not to be a bit emotional about such a response – these people are hungry for change and a better life. 

The Diospi Suyana morning chapel service typically full with Quechua Indians and a handful of hospital staff before their day shift begins.

After this we returned to the Centro de Medios for radio and TV interviews with Ps John and Ronny to interpret although by this time Ps John found his Italian legs and due to the similarities between Spanish and Italian, was able to understand much of what was spoken.  Ps John spoke on his passion for missions and his amazing life testimony of faith in seeing this resourced showing how it’s God’s heart to go into all the world and share the Gospel.

Ps John and Ronny in the Diospi Suyana radio studio interviewed by Jesús Hurtado.

Similarly Ps John and Ronny being interviewed, but here for Diospi Suyana TV.  Click below for a short example video.

Our Lifesource team meets the Diospi Suyana Centro de Medios manager, Doris Manco.

Of interest the production manager Jesús Hurtado was the interviewer for both the radio and TV.  Ps John later noted to me that there were no people named Jesús in European Catholic countries, even Italy.  But he was surprised to see people named Jesús is common in Perú – including written on walls and billboards for advertising goods and services by someone of that name.  Conversely I noted the name Mary is revered and sacred only for Catholic worship in Perú.  Hence one native to Perú is never named Mary, for the same reason we don’t see the name Jesús used to name people in the west as it is revered only for our savour Christ of course.

Time for one last photo in Curahuasi with our family and our Lifesource team taken in our front yard with the 100 year old adobe kitchen backdrop.

We had our last lunch in the hospital cafeteria and home to pack bags and return to Cusco.  This trip was with the whole Welch family as we made a weekend of it to shop as we about once a month or so – predominantly for food items that we can’t get in Curahuasi.  After arriving in Cusco, we had a farewell bite to eat at Jack’s Café in Cusco – the only Australian eatery there!  It was a lovely finish to such a blessed visit.  We even met Ronny’s mum again who so happened to arrive there.

We are so grateful to all of Lifesource Church for their generous support of us enabling us to be here to help the Quechua people of the Andes with the message of hope and life in Jesus Christ.  And for such an encouraging visit by Ps John, Rod and Ronny.

So blessed!

Chris