Tacna, baptisms... & this time paratyphoid!

Hi, I have spent the weekend (Thursday-Tuesday) in Tacna with the Misión Rescate team. We had a great time. The team was working with 'Manantial de Vida' Church who were celebrating their 7th anniversary this week. The team did visitation and door to door work handing out leaflets about the church activities and inviting the people to attend the anniversary services.
On Saturday there was the church outing to a country club/restaurant. They hired a room for the day and the pool for an hour. The purpose was to undertake a baptismal service, which apparently has become a tradition over the past few years. We had a short service in the room and then everyone gathered around the pool where 5 people were then baptised.

After this we spent time playing games the team had organised and then had lunch which we had arranged ourselves as the restaurant would have been too expensive. I have never attended a baptismal service quite like this, but I was glad of the opportunity.
Sunday was spent at Church with a special service in the morning where the newly baptised believers were accepted into membership and then the Lord's Supper was celebrated. In the afternoon there was another service where the other churches in Cono Sur who work directly with the mission were invited. The four 'De Vida' churches as they are known (Pan de Vida, Luz de Vida, Palabra de Vida and Manantial de Vida) customarily cancel their own evening services to attend each others anniversaries. This helps promote fellowship and support between the churches. (Below are are some team members with a few of the young people from the church).
On Monday the team returned to Ite while I stayed on until Tuesday to complete the tests at the laboratory. Sadly the result is that although the antibiotics cleared the typhoid bacteria, they didn't successfully eliminate the paratyphoid (trust me to get both at once). Presently I am awaiting an e-mail from the laboratory to tell me what antibiotic the bacteria is sensitive to and then I have to phone the doctor who treated me in Arequipa to get an antibiotic prescribed. This also throws into doubt whether I will be able to accompany the team to Puno. I'll keep you posted on this.

I would ask you to pray for the following things. Firstly for the team and myself as we prepare to go to Arequipa this Sunday and then on to Puno (presuming I get to go). Chris, one of the team members, and I visited a Cardiologist while we were here in Tacna. He has a history of heart problems as a teenager and was not able to join the team when they last visited Puno in December. The doctor has decided that it would be fine for him to travel this time but has recommended that we keep a careful eye on things. The other thing the doctor pointed out is that altitude sickness can affect anyone therefore we all need to be careful to take it easy the first few days in Puno. Hopefully the couple of days in Arequipa will help minimise the effect on our bodies and allow us to acclimatise more gradually. Pray for safety in travel and also for good health as we adjust to the altitude.

I also want to ask you to pray for Pastor Ruben Mendoza. He works in the radio in Tacna and also pastors the Pan de Vida church. He has had pain and other difficulties over the past week or so and was finally diagnosed on Monday as having renal stones in both kidneys and also some other problems. However, the hospital are presently saying he may have to wait until May/June to see a Urologist and later in June to get surgery. At present he has been sent home to await an appointment. His wife nevertheless, is trying to get him seen sooner as he is in a lot of pain and his own doctor says he needs surgery urgently. Please pray for him and his family at this time and I'll keep you posted as I hear how things are going. Also pray for Christine Morrow as she continues to recover.

Sorry that health matters seem to dominate this post but they are genuine needs for prayer. Thank you again for your faithfulness in prayer and also for your encouraging comments and e-mails. They are a real blessing.

God Bless,
Alistair.

Settling into Ilo

Hi, this is just a post to let you know what I've been up to in the last week or so.
I moved from Arequipa to Ilo on Saturday. The most difficult part of the journey was getting to the bus terminal and making sure my luggage got put on the right bus and don't get appropriated by alternative owners. I actually had more baggage than I could safely handle so thankfully Iain McKelvie, the missionary whose family I was staying with, accompanied me to the terminal.
I was obviously over my 20kg allowance and the attendant informed me so stating I would have to pay a charge. I responded that that was fine and asked how much? For some reason this seemed to shock him and after looking at me in a sort of stunned manner he then said not to worry that he wouldn't charge me, but would do so the next time. I don't know if he expected me to argue, or bribe him or what exactly. Obviously he expected anything but what I think would be the most probable answer to his question- “how much?”.

Anyway the journey began well, with all luggage on board and the lady beside me crossing herself every time we passed a Catholic shrine. This was at least six times before we even got out of Arequipa, and pretty much at every village or township we passed through. I got the vibe that she was quite nervous about our journey and I soon wondered had she travelled with our driver before. It was about 45 minutes into the journey when the stewardess/conductor ran past me and shouted to the driver to stop. Both then got out and disappeared round the side of the bus. It quickly became apparent to everyone that one of the cargo doors had opened as we had been going round the corners. When the stewardess got back on the bus she reassured us that it wasn't the door of the luggage compartment that had opened but of the compartment containing the deliveries and postage people were sending to Moquegua or Ilo. I nevertheless sat for the rest of the journey wondering if this was really the truth and would I find my luggage missing on arrival. At Moquegua I got off and checked that my luggage was there, which it thankfully was. I wonder however, if someone else's bags or post is now at the bottom of a ravine outside Arequipa?

I have spent the last few days settling into the Murphy's home here in Ilo, where I will reside until July. This has included buying in food and trying to get myself organised in terms of paperwork, accounts etc. Sunday night I accompanied Trevor Morrow to Tacna where he was speaking at 'Manantial de Vida' Church, which is celebrating it's 7th anniversary this week, and stayed the night so as to attend a meeting for the missionaries on Monday morning. Tomorrow, Thursday, I am planning to travel over to Tacna again and stay probably to Monday. This is to visit the 'Mision Rescate' team, see how they are doing and also share in the anniversary celebrations at 'Manantial de Vida' with whom they are working this week. There are baptisms planned for Saturday morning and special services on Sunday. Also this weekend the seminary has an invited speaker coming from Lima who is speaking on Friday night and Saturday morning. I hope to attend Friday night's session but will probably have to miss Saturday morning to attend the baptisms. Please pray for these various events, and especially for those getting baptised and for the invited speaker.
Whilst in Tacna I am also going to see if I can get some tests done at a reputable laboratory there to see if I am indeed clear of typhoid. Please pray for this and other tests I have to have done. One of the Peruvian male team members also needs to be seen by a doctor while in Tacna to ensure that he is medically fit to travel to Puno next week. Pray that he would get the all clear. Please also pray for Guido, another of the Peruvian team members, who has been suffering from backache since February. He was seen by a doctor back then and as symptoms haven't resolved he was examined by another doctor on Monday who again diagnosed him with sciatica. Pray for him as he tries to get relief from the pain.
Lastly please remember the team as they minister in Tacna this week and then next week as they prepare for our trip to Puno. Pray for safety in travel both to and from Tacna and then next week up to Arequipa and on to Puno.

Thanks again for your prayers,
God Bless,
Alistair.

Mr T (for typhoid)!

Hi, since my last post language school had been going very well, learning loads. The language school is excellent in the standard of teaching offered is among the best. A few of the students, who have experienced other language schools around the world, commented to me how good they feel the language institute is. This was supposed to be my last week there but sadly in many ways things have changed.

I commented on my last post that I was suffering from headaches, which I put down to the altitude, and nausea which is something I'm never troubled with. During this week I got a bit worse and then by Thursday had started to pick up with the nausea subsiding and headaches minimising. On Friday I arrived home from language school to the news that two children from another missionary family had been diagnosed with typhoid and paratyphoid. This, added to another missionary who had been diagnosed with typhoid on Thursday, was a cause for concern for all of us. We decided it would be prudent to get a blood analysis done which indicated, to my great surprise, that I was at least a carrier of the bacteria. I decided to get a second opinion and had my blood rechecked at a more expensive laboratory down town on Saturday. This result came back even higher showing that I wasn't just carrying the bacteria, but suffering from typhoid.
To cut a long story short, I saw a doctor this morning who frankly was more interested in my weight and lectured me on a whole new healthy lifestyle regimen. As far as the typhoid was concerned she reckoned that the treatment of antibiotics I had already started Saturday morning were sufficient intervention at present. I had phoned a doctor friend in Antrim A/E on Friday night who had advised me to start antibiotics even if my blood test was only marginal.

My symptoms are not excessive, and even though I was fairly ill last week (apparently suffering from typhoid), I am not even close to being as ill as others who have or have had typhoid. What I believe has prevented me from suffering as badly from the infection as might have been the case, was the typhoid vaccine I got a month before leaving. It's not 100% effective, so whilst it hasn't prevented me from getting typhoid altogether, it has seemingly limited its severity.

My main concerns at the minute are to treat the infection, and then to make sure to eradicate the bacteria completely from my body. Many people treat the infection but once the symptoms are gone they return to normal living, but continue to carry and spread the bacteria which apparently like to hide in your gallbladder (sorry if that's too much info). One website I was reading said that a recent study showed that asymptomatic carriers (people who have no symptoms) have been proved to play a essential role in the transmission of typhoid globally. Well I can't speak authoritatively about global transmission, but I can say that some kind soul (sarcasm) freely transmitted their bacteria to me here in Arequipa! The bottom line is that I don't want to pass this nuisance on to anyone else so I plan to isolate myself as necessary, which means I can't attend language school, and try to not pass on the infection to others around me, which among other things has meant me eating pancakes with latex gloves on. Perhaps a little over-the-top but better safe than sorry.

I plan to stay here in Arequipa until I see the doctor again on Wednesday and if my symptoms have not worsened, and I feel up to it, I may head down to Ilo towards the end of the week. I'm worried about passing the infection on to others here, whereas in Ilo I will be living on my own.

Please pray that my symptoms would not worsen but get better, and that the course of antibiotics would be effective in eradicating the bacteria. Whilst Ciprofloxacin is the drug if choice to treat typhoid, in many other parts of the world typhoid has become resistant to it. Therefore there is always the possibility that I may end up needing other antibiotics after this.

Please also continue to pray for the 'Mision Rescate' team as they prepare to go to Tacna for a week and then shortly after to Puno for two weeks.

Thank you for praying so faithfully for me,
God Bless,
Alistair.

Countless Subjunctives, Verbs, Nouns etc... & an Orphanage

Hi. Sorry its been a while since I last wrote. Basically I'm still at language school, haven't been expelled just yet but here's hoping (joking). I have to admit to having a considerable advantage over the other students, the fact that I learnt to speak Spanish while living in Peru as a child. I'm not as fluent as I was as a child but hopefully with practice I may regain that fluidity. On the other hand however, I never learnt very much of the grammar, only a little during Spanish G.C.S.E. The result is that I tend to know the answer without knowing the 'why', and it is precisely, very precisely, the 'why' that my tutors are trying to instill into my mind.

On a more humorous note I've found that I know some Spanish not recognized as legitimate by any official authority on Spanish. These are not slang or swear words, that's another story, just words I've Hispanicised and truly believe would be valuable additions to the language. Chief among these would be 'Mandatorio' my Spanish wannabe equivalent for 'Mandatory'. Sadly, solely for me it seems, that slot is already occupied by the word 'Obligatorio' similar to 'Obligatory'. It is taking considerable effort on my part, and patience on my two tutors parts, for me to undo the habit of using the wrong word. What's more to the point, I never imagined I would use this word as often as I evidently do!

As hinted above I have learnt some slang and some common swear words, not because I plan to profanely insult anyone, but rather to ensure I don't. I've already managed, quite innocently, to accuse our missionaries in Ilo of having less than honourable interactions with their money changers. I must refrain from elaborating further here, suffice to say I think these classes have already proved invaluable.

To change the subject a bit, I'm glad to say that language school hasn't been the only think I've been up to here. I've been to a church held in a coffee shop, been to play football (at 2200m above sea level might I add) and even scored a goal yesterday. The highlight, of my out of school activities so far, in many ways has been to visit an orphanage. A friend of mine, JD Lovell, a missionary kid who I grew up with here in Peru is volunteering at a number of different children's homes in Peru and Colombia over the coming months.

Presently he is working at New Hope Children's Home here in Arequipa. Last Wednesday I went to visited him after school. It was great not only to catch up with him but also to see the work he's involved in. The conditions in some senses were basic yet I'm told they are much better than many other orphanages in the city. Almost all the children come from very difficult backgrounds.

Some have behavioural, emotional or physical difficulties. I can't elaborate on individual issues here but I would ask that you pray for the children. God knows their needs better than any of us. Also pray for the volunteers who come to work with the kids and young adults. They are given a lot of responsibility and work very hard to provide for the children's needs. Pray also for their health as many have had bouts of sickness recently.

It was a truly heart warming and challenging experience to see this ministry to some of the most underprivileged and vulnerable in Peruvian society. The volunteers seek tirelessly to present the gospel to the children and young people in their care and expain to them the only true and everlasting hope that is found in Christ Jesus.

If you want to know more JD also has a web blog which you can read. The web address is:
http://peru-vision.blogspot.com/
or you can search for 'Peru-Colombia Trip 09'.

Please continue to pray that my time at language school would be beneficial in the long term, and as I prepare to take on the role of leading the 'Mision Recate' team. Please also pray for my health as I've had recurrent headaches recently and some nausea at times. I've yet to figure out a cause.
I'm away to bed now and see if a good rest cures the headache.

God Bless,
Alistair.

Thunder & Lightning

Hi, I'm writing this post from Arequipa. Yes I got here safely and thank you to all who prayed for my travelling and also my settling in. I am living with the McKelvie family who serve the Lord here in Arequipa with SIM. They are primarily involved in a program which provides breakfast for underprivileged children. This is actually a busy period for them as they are buying supplies for the months ahead and coordinating with the various churches involved in the program. Please pray for their safety as they often have to carry large quantities of money on their person, to purchase the food for the program, in wholesale markets which are notoriously dangerous in terms of thieves.

I have also four days of language study over me. It involves both conversation and grammar classes. So far it is going well and the homework's have not been excessive (until my teachers read this!). I will say no more about this now as I will be able to elaborate more fully about language school as the weeks go by.

There is actually something else burdening my heart, which I want to write about. I am composing this post at 11pm and hope to post it on the internet tomorrow. As I write there is a thunder and lightning storm outside. I am staying in a room on the fourth floor which in many ways is great in terms of a panoramic view over the city etc. Tonight however, it also gives me an almost front row seat for the lightning show with thunder resounding ever more loudly all around me. I've tried my best, somewhat successfully, to photograph some of the lightning from one of my windows until it began to rain so hard I had to call it quits. I've posted the two best photos I managed to take, not amazing in quality but see what you think. Earlier I considered going up the last flight of stairs on to the roof above my room to try and get some even better photos but chickened out in the end. I may not have much hair on my head to singe, but I can't imagine a lightning bolt would improve my Spanish any. Thunder storms like this are common because of the altitude (Arequipa is 2200 metres above sea level). I can only imagine the lightning storms I'll perhaps see in Puno when I go there in April. Its at a much higher altitude than Arequipa.

As I sit here writing this, with lightning flashing in through the windows around me, and the sound of thunder booming I also remember the earth tremor two nights ago. I woke from my sleep to the sensation of my bed shaking and the metal single-pane windows vibrating, and began to think to myself was this really and earth tremor or perhaps some heavy goods vehicle passing by. Before I had concluded my pondering's the tremor had passed. I was later able to confirm that there actually had been an earth tremor (so much for my reflexes). Perhaps for those of you who don't know, Arequipa is located right beside an active volcano called 'Misti'. The crucial issue is that these small tremors, which are very regular in these parts, are actually very helpful as they allow tension to be released from the tectonic plates. One of the missionaries told me that back in 2001 the newspapers had publicised that 6 weeks had passed without a tremor. The very next day there was a large earthquake which caused a lot of damage both in here in Arequipa, but also in the south for example in Moquegua.
Reflecting on the tremor two nights ago, and the magnificent display of the power of nature unfolding around me, I can't help but become so profoundly aware of Gods power. The fact that he is in control of the tremors, of the thunderstorms, and of all creation.

Psalm 19 verses 1&2 say:

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge”

One of my most favourite songs is Chris Tomlin's 'Indescribable'. I have been listening to it just now and he sings that creation reveals God's majesty, something I am presently acutely aware of. He goes on to sing that God is “all powerful” and “untameable”. It is so easy to fall in to the temptation of conceiving God as a kind of teddy bear who we can have as a comfort where and when we choose. Whilst God is our Abba Father this thunder storm testifies clearly his almighty power and that fact that no-one can tame or control God. Chris Tomlin goes on to sing that God “has told every lightning bolt where it should fall”. As I look at the lightning bolts falling outside they seem to flash and crackle across the sky in an almost haphazard fashion, their destination appears unpredictable, yet God is in control. We may gaze in wonder but God has determined the path which each lightning bolt follows.

Psalm 19, continues to read in verses 3&4:

“There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.”

I wonder how anyone witnessing this spectacular display of nature could fail to see the creators hallmark imprinted throughout. Nature, as David writes in his Psalm, does proclaim God's greatness across language barriers. Attending language school I have met people who for example speak only German, or Norwegian and have had great difficulty communicating with them. Yet truly, language is no barrier to God and creations ability to display and proclaim boldly His majesty.

I can say no more... words simply do not suffice,
God Bless,
Alistair.

Conference time

Hi. Just catching up having returned from Ite. We had an excellent 24 hour conference. There was a really good attendance including children, parents etc. The schedule included Bible studies and relevant seminars dealing with issues related to mission. We also had a seminar on first aid very ably given by a local doctor and also a talk on security/emergency response by a local community security officer. These were aimed at enabling the mission workers to be able to deal with emergencies in their churches or ministry locations.

The highlight was definitely the last session where we celebrated the Lord's Supper. It was such an appropriate way the end the conference, by sharing communion as a team of mission workers both foreign and national. Many expressed how much they appreciated this.

Earlier in the day some also took the opportunity to run the 12 station assault course. It was very entertaining and also included the oldest person, so far, to ever complete the course. They shall remain nameless as far as this blog goes, though I shall reveal that they are in their late 70's and come from Ireland. All were left very impressed by this young (at heart) person's enthusiasm and determination.
Anyway, tonight I am packing for Arequipa. This is very much on my heart, I would sincerely ask for prayer especially for the journey. I realise I have already mentioned this for prayer numerous times already but I still remember the MADNESS exhibited by some of the other road users on our last trip to Arequipa. This time instead of trusting Trevor Morrow's excellent driving skills, I will be at the mercy of an anonymous bus driver, who may also be excellent, but one never knows.

God Bless until the next time,

Alistair.

The life of Abraham

Hi. This week was meant to be mission conference week, and it still is. Just things had to changed around a bit, primarily due to the fact that this is a very busy period for all of the missionaries in their various ministries. As such a three day conference proved unworkable, and instead we met yesterday here in Ilo as a mission family for a one day conference. It was great to meet the Brew family who I had not yet met since I arrived.

The highlight of the day was definitely the three sessions with Pastor Byers where we looked at the life of Abraham. It was spiritually nourishing and very challenging. There was also time spent in prayer for all the missionaries including myself which I valued greatly.

This is to be followed on Friday and Saturday by another conference, this time in Ite, with all the national workers (Pastors, lecturers etc) and missionaries. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to meet many of them who I know only by name, or haven't met in three years. Please pray that this gathering will also be a beneficial time of fellowship and spiritual nourishment for everyone.

Also this week some of us went on a boat trip around Ilo harbour. This is a popular attraction to everyone both tourists and Peruvians. We were able to see birds, boats, seals and some very large sea lions.

The other news is that I have finally bought my ticket to Arequipa, I leave by bus at 9am Sunday morning. Please continue to pray for safety as I travel and settle in to life there.

I'll aim, as always, to write again soon,
God Bless
Alistair.