Our First Peru Residency

05 August 2016

I was advised last week that my Peru residency (Carnet) was approved and needed to be collected in Lima.  Although short notice, I took the opportunity whilst it was the last week of the school holidays so as not to miss any language learning.

After a quick return trip to Lima I obtained my Peru residency from Peru Migraciones (Department of Migrations) and also included my application for the kids’ residency.  Note the Peru bureaucracy requires that parents must have their residency before the application for dependents.  Each step takes 1 to 2 months as it includes overseas criminal checks with Interpol and a return visit in person to Lima when ready! (I think you will agree it’s not exactly the most efficient system).

The first cab off the rank for our family with Peru Residency / Carnet in hand

As they say here in Peru – poco a poco which means little by little.  The same applies to my Spanish progress actually! ☺  More on that in my next post.

And THANK YOU to all our dear supporters, for without you this work would not be possible.

Chris

Our Inaugural Trip to Diospi Suyana, Curahuasi

28 July 2016

Many things have happened since my last post, but to try and stay current I am just reporting in on my current trip to Curahuasi this week (plus language school is in recess giving me the needed respite from late night homework to write here again! J).

Isaac (13) and I have embarked on our inaugural trip to Diospi Suyana hospital whilst language school is in recess for two weeks.  The bus is the most economical method by an order of magnitude – typically between USD $30 to $40 p/p each way.  Not bad for a 10 hour coach trip with 160° to 180° reclining bed seats and personal entertainment screens. 

But that is where the luxury sell ends, as the bus travel in these parts is far from smooth straight road, leading to a somewhat anxious and prayerful trip for me.  It was like being in a theme park flight simulator ride where you are thrown up down, left and right – all the time I was envisioning the speeding bus edging along mountain hairpin bends with 300 metre sheer drops.  All this with a seatbelt that did not work and the Diospi Suyana accounts of carnage with buses that do go over the edge.  

But my promise scripture is Psalm 121 – I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber. 

So of course we arrived OK and the Diospi Suyana facility was every bit as impressive as imagined.  It was a quality build and with friendly professional Christian staff on board.  The media centre was bigger than I had imagined from the plans – a nice clean build to get things right and be efficient and produce quality programming.

FM broadcasting had commenced a few weeks earlier for the low power local Curahuasi license on the Diospi Suyana property, providing our first 24 x 7 radio to the community.  The transmitter install is temporary but functional and does not impact upon signal performance.

The first Diospi Suyana FM – a low power transmitter (temporary install) serving Curahuasi

The Diospi Suyana hospital site FM mast (co-sited)

We have met some wonderful fellow mission people here from all parts – Germany, the US, Australia (Lyndal Maxwell) and many local Peruvians.  These are directors, surgeons, doctors, medical assistants, broadcast producers, to even cleaners who take such pride in their work.

We have also reserved a house for when we are ready to commence work in Curahuasi.  Many doubted that a suitable place for a family of 10 would be found.  However God clearly had other plans as we found a large farm house (casa la hacienda) with everything we had dreamt of having – from a creek, to beautiful views of mountains and crop fields, to even a bath (a very rare thing in Peru!).  

The house is believed to be over 150 years old, and has approximately 1 metre thick adobe mud brick walls to regulate the ambient temperature extremes.  It has never been leased before and is just 10 minutes out of town.  The owners – 4 adult siblings of an Italian visionary father, took over 2 hours to show me around and provide stories of their childhood and the amazing things their father established in the place from vineyards, to orchards, to vegetable gardens, to a water wheel to grind wheat and generate power etc.  It even has a paddock for animals (read: accommodating possible horse one day for Sarah), not to mention Inka trails that go on for countless kilometres (read: accommodating Sam’s mountain bike riding) and hills to climb for all.  We are feeling so incredibly blessed right now (again!).

A perfect place to accommodate our family (a coat of paint on the exterior will make a world of difference too! J)

Yes a bath – and what a view!!!

Tomorrow is Peru Independence Day where the town establishments (such as Diospi Suyana) march the streets to the town centre – in Peru this is the Plaza de Armes (of which every city and town of any presence has its centre named this).  I will be videoing with one of the new Sony professional cameras recently acquired for the media centre.  This will enable a programme to be produced for the hospital for when the inaugural Diospi Suyana television station commences broadcasting in the coming months.

Chris

Our Arrival in Arequipa

25 June 2016

Continuing on from my previous post… and again my apologies for the delay.  I appreciate Sand’s Facebook has been a lot more current that our blog in the past month.

After some time looking for accommodation when we were still in Sydney and furthermore after we arrived in Lima, we had not been able to find a suitable sized furnished house for short term rent in Arequipa.  Most were either smaller places or the owner wanted a long term lease and this is despite canvassing all options with Real Estate agents, our local Arequipa language school and even friends and relatives of our Peru friends in Sydney (thank you all so much for those helping us with this!).

We were coming to the end of our tenure at the Lima Guesthouse when it so happened to be Sandi’s birthday.  During which time another Diospi Suyana missionary Peter Schultz who had been studying language with his family in Arequipa for the past 2 months with his family celebrated Sandi’s birthday breakfast with us that morning (and being German, contributed a European Continental offering adding to the cultural mix).  God’s timing I reckon as he noted an accommodation option that a fellow German family was just about to leave Arequipa and they lived in a house that could accommodate the ten of us.  They had to vacate 2 weeks early for us, but there was an option with another Arequipa family to accommodate them (a squeeze but doable for them short term).

This is how things transpired and the way was made for us to have a house in Arequipa.  We achieved some amazing bargain Lima to Arequipa airfares too – the locals we spoke agreed this was the best deal they had heard of (even with LATAM who arguably have the best reputation and safety record).

We arrived at Arequipa airport greeted by the beautiful Arequipa snow-capped mountain visa of the three local volcanoes – Chachani (6.057 km above sea level), Mt Misti (an active volcano 5.822km above sea level) and Picchu Picchu (5.664 km above sea level).  We were picked up by our Diospi Suyana German compatriots (the Schütze’s and the Kühling’s) in Sam’s all-time favourite vehicle – the VW Kombi T1 model with barn doors!  So Sam had to have the front seat! ☺  Here are some pictures that captured the moment.

Our initial view of Arequipa’s volcanoes from the airport tarmac

Peter Schütze (left) and the Welch Family pickup from Arequipa airport in the VW T1 Kombi

In the first week we were in Arequipa (NB 2.4km above sea level) Sandi has suffered with headaches and daily blood noses (which seemed to go on and on for like an hour in some cases) the altitude.  This was a challenging week as Jake, Sam, Isaac and I started language school – deferring to the Tuesday as Sandi was unwell.  But with God’s Grace we got through OK.

For the initial term it seemed there was yet more mandatory admin and finance stuff to night after night.  This has also proven challenging balancing the kids’ needs with Sandi and mine, plus doing justice with our language studies and homework each day.  I found myself still working away well after midnight as the norm, including calls to Australian institutions sorting out incompatibilities with the Peru systems.  For example SMS does not work between Australian and Peru telco systems making many Australian transfer authentication systems.  Hopefully that is largely behind us now and we can settle into some sort of routine.

Here below are some pictures of our place which best describe our abode in Arequipa;

We live on the top two floors with the caretakers’ family on the ground floor.

 View north of Mt Misti from our bedroom window

View from our bedroom window down to street level

Our house looking up the street from ground level

The kids room (and overflow bedroom)

 Our kitchen with gas oven, microwave, fridge etc. all inclusions

Our dining (foreground) and living areas

Our outdoor laundry

Our rooftop getaway with city panoramic views

Operator beware – the Peruvian electric instant hot water shower head (unfortunately does not meet Australian electrical standards and you do occasionally get a tingle up the arm when turning the tap under the shower which is heated by an exposed active element inside! ☠)

 

Sunset over Mt Misti taken from our bedroom window

Chris

A Miraculous Recovery in Lima

07 June 2016

Firstly let me apologise for the delayed blog updates.  In fact I have back-dated this one to the time of this next event so it makes chronological sense.  It has been a whirlwind since we have arrived in Lima along with a lot of cultural and geographic adjustment.  More on that in the next post or two.

After on-sending half of our luggage to Curahuasi where we will see it again in 3 months when we move there to set up house, we realised we were one bag short.  Bag #1 would you believe!  So we had to report it missing at the Lima International airport.  That meant a taxi trip back the next evening.  After catching a train and then a bus, we hailed down a taxi in a dodgy part of town.  What happened next was primarily due to both circumstance and fatigue on my part, whereby I had to pay cash for the taxi to fill up at the fuel station as part of my fare (I believe a common requirement here in Lima), and as I did not get out of the vehicle I consequently left my wallet on the seat where it remained when we got out at the airport.

Now anyone who knows Lima will be aware it is not a city known for its integrity or safety.  In fact I have read that more mobile phones are stolen in Peru than any other part of South America – about 2.2 million phones a year out of a population of some 30 million.  I have not seen more alarms, high walls (probably a Spanish architectural trait), bared windows and doors, electric fences and alarm systems in my life than in Peru.  I think you get the idea – the odds of seeing my wallet again were not good.

But then I prayed earnestly that night before filing a police report that it was missing.  And I asked others back in Australia to also pray.  Yes I had made a mistake, but in the circumstance I had done my best.  I left the rest up to God.

I had made an appointment to visit the Australian Embassy in Peru to introduce ourselves as a family and let them know what we were doing in Peru for the next three years.  They were very impressed with our family’s commitment to the cause and assured they would help us in any way they can.  Along with providing all our contact details, I also noted my wallet went missing in a cab the night before.

The next morning, I received an email from the Australian Embassy (because they then had our details), saying the taxi driver had located my wallet and contacted them with his mobile number!  UNBELIEVABLE the locals have told me – this NEVER happens in Lima let alone with a random unidentified taxi at night in a dodgy part of town.  I promptly called the guy and within an hour and a half, he had delivered it back to our door at the Diospi Suyana Guesthouse!

I will let you draw your own conclusions on that one.  But as for me, I gave thanks to God for His amazing faithfulness in looking after us on this trip.

I have attached a few proof shots to help visualise the recovery situation.

My miraculously returned wallet

Me with our Lima taxi driver returning my wallet, pictured with Sam and Guesthouse caretaker Jose who were with me when it was left behind on that fateful night

Thanks for following our journey and for those that are praying with and for us,

Chris

Our Amazing Arrival in Lima

04 June 2016

Well we are here in Lima!  The Diospi Suyana guesthouse is fantastic and located in a good part of town.  Although Lima is a crazy place (a lot like Cambodia in my experience).

We have an amazing testimony getting through Peru airport customs – after explaining what work we are coming to Peru to do, and staff impressed with Sandi’s mothering capability and our lovely newborn Stacey, the staff at decided to wave us past the checkouts without inspection of our 94 items of baggage.  This was right past everyone else getting their bags pulled apart and strewn everywhere per normal process!  Unheard of for the locals who could not believe it (needless to say multitudes of people are praying for us to realise such incredible favour – thank you for your prayers which are certainly being answered).

We also have many other testimonies, such as the one regarding how our Lord looked after us regarding 3 of our bags that suffered ill fate during our trip.  Sandi is posting this story on her Facebook page now.  And the breakthrough only days before we took off with the provision people and trucks at the Lima end to pick up our luggage which would have otherwise left us stuck with an unmanageable pile at the airport.  Moreover it was at no charge to us as our commitment to Peru has touched the hearts of those involved in Lima.

Below are some photos of our family at the airport and arriving at the guesthouse with our luggage.

Arrival in Lima Airport Immigration

A section of our 94 items of luggage in Lima airport

On the free side of Lima airport with our friends' cousin in Lima managing a team of local helpers moving our luggage

Finally unloading our stuff at the Diospi Suyana guesthouse in Lima

We are thankful to Ursula who travelled down from Diospi Suyana Curahuasi helping us get our Peru legal documentation / working visas sorted in Spanish.  We have undergone the normal process with the local Notary Public to create Spanish certificates and then with Interpol which was an experience in itself (the facility was dated like something from a 1950’s war movie).

It has been full on since our feet touched the ground here and the kids have coped amazingly thus far with all this and our lack of one on one time with them.

Blessings,

Chris & Sandi

Midnight Friends and the Bag Lady

31 May 2016

We are so blessed by our very special friends who have helped us with the not insignificant amount of logistics to move our luggage to Peru.  This included the acquiring of some 18 donated suitcases by our “bag lady” (as we came to affectionately call her J).

And then the friends that came again and stayed back to midnight and beyond to help us get ready moving out of house (including finally departing our house at 4:30am!), packing cases and boxes (one friend coming interstate just to do this), cleaning our house, cooking meals, looking after our kids to free us up, and taking ownership of the endless logistic details needed to see this operation succeed.  The bond of friendship we have with these people goes without saying of the gratitude we have in our hearts.

Then the team of movers with trucks and trollies to store at a friend’s lockup garage and then deliver some 75 items of book-on baggage plus our 19 items of carry-on to the airport on the Tuesday morning.

THANK YOU ALL (you know who you are!!!)

Sandi the wee hours of the morning moving out of our house.

Check-in at Sydney International Airport

Our logistics co-ordinator in action!

Love,

The Welch Family

Our Amazing Supporters

30 May 2016

Here we are at the eve of our departure and have been advised that our support level has been sufficiently reached (Pledge budget at 97%) and we have been given the green light by Pioneers.  This was another faith provision for us as intentionally we had no Plan B.

How do we say thank you from the depths of our hearts with just words?  Our family and friends and especially those in our Life Source Church - you are amazing beyond words!  Not to mention the incredible honouring we received on our last Sunday morning for 3 years at Lifesource.  THANK YOU for sharing in our calling to help the Quechua people, to tell them the good news of Jesus.  They will be impacted eternally as they hear the Gospel over the radio and see it on their television screens.  They will also be impacted physically as health and educational programs equip them with needed health and wellbeing information.

It is written in Isaiah 55:11 – the Word that goes forth out of my mouth will not return to me void.  The Word is true and we know there will be a mighty harvest of souls.  This harvest extends further throughout Peru and potentially beyond. 

We have been overwhelmed with the love, support, encouragement and incredible generosity that you have extended to us.  This has been nothing short of the personified love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ - which is of course what we are going to extend to the Quechua people in partnership with you.

To be honest about this - it has been an exciting but also a difficult and challenging journey for our family as we prepare to go.  But God has been there at the right time with the right people all along the way.  This has given us the assurance that “God’s got it!”.  It has been a faith journey for us from the beginning, as we are convicted from Hebrews 11:6 that we cannot please God without faith and as we fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

We look forward to sharing the journey with you along the way in words and pictures yes, but most importantly - from all our hearts to yours.  We want to be an encouragement to you as to what God has done, is doing and will do not just in our lives but in yours.

Love in Christ,

The Welches

Our Lifesource Church Commissioning on our final service there for 3 years – Sunday 22 May 2016