The crowd stoppers and Castellano

Our family is currently in Trujillo, Peru studying Castellano. Trujillo is on the coast of Peru. We took a bus from Tarapoto to Trujillo. The bus ride is 18 hours through the night to get to Trujillo; however, our bus ride ended up being 32 hours long. We had a 14 hour delay due to mud slides on the mountain. At first it was just one mud slide but when all was said and done the total ended up being eight. We nada very blessed 14 hours in the mountains. We were able to get out of the bus and walk around exploring the mountain and little village. When we were tired we were able to get back on the bus and take naps. Just as we were running out of food, we only brought enough to cover our family for a whole day, the towns people made food and were selling it to all of the people waiting for the road to be cleared. When the road was finally cleared we had the most amazing drive through the mountains.  Had there not been a mudslide we never would have been able to see the mountains since you drive through them at night. The Lord answered Taylor's prayer to be able to see them during the daytime.

 Throughout the whole experience the children were amazing! They were very well behaved and handled the delay like champs.The only time there was any issue is when we arrived in Trujillo at midnight and we had to awaken them to leave the bus, but who wouldn't be exhausted at that time when you left a day and a half earlier?

We currently have a week of Castellano school under our belt. It is incredibly challenging to learn a new language but it has been a blessing. It is so funny when Taylor and I learn something new and we recognize the phrase as something someone has been trying to say to us for over a month. Such easy phrases that we didn't understand. Our first hour of class we learned all of the common questions that
we would be asked and the answers. That afternoon while shopping for groceries we were actually asked all of those questions. We were finally able to answer them and to carry on a conversation for a little while.

Faustina, Adele, and Ruth are crowd stoppers here. Everyone wants to see the twins and once they stop us they notice that Ruth has blue eyes and blonde hair. Everyone tries to figure out how the girls all have blue eyes while Taylor and I have dark eyes. People also stop us to chat because we have six children. I also get a smile on my face when I hear people counting to six and then they ask us if we are now complete with children. Each time we are then able to share about being missionaries and about our love for Christ. Faustina and Adele are amazing missionaries. They break the ice and through them we are able to talk to so many more people about Christ. Thank you Lord Jesus for such wonderful missionary children!

Malachi, Ruth, Leo, and Anthony have been spreading the Good News to anyone that can understand English. They have been able to find many tourists and share our story with them. Many times while we are talking to people in Spanish the four of them have somehow found the only English speaker and are sharing their testimonies with them. The kids are so bold and full of love for Christ. I can't wait for them to learn Castellano so they can share their passion with the people of Picota.

We miss Picota immensely. We desire to be back with the people. We are looking forward to finally being able to share stories and to laugh with them without a translator. We can't wait to being able to pray with them in Castellano and to be a listening ear for those that need it. But most importantly we can't wait to finally being able to bring Christ and His Good News to the people!