A picture is worth a thousand words

We thought it was time to let our pictures tell a blog story. We hope you enjoy the story below of some of the things we are doing in missions. How we are bringing Jesus to the people and some pictures of our daily life. But there are some pictures missing from here. It never seems to fail that when something really exciting happens I never have a camera ready. 

For instance when the Jehovah Witnesses came to our door. Last Sunday they came to convert us. They had first came on Mother's Day. Taylor kindly asked them to leave since it was Mother's Day and it wasn't a good time since he was cooking me breakfast. He asked them to come back some other time. Praise the Lord they choose Pentecost Sunday. I fully believe that our Lord gave Taylor the gift of tongues to defend His name. Taylor was able to debate them in Castellano for over thirty minutes. The Jehovah's eventually conceded and walked away. The youth from our community just happened to walk by when all of this was taking place. They witnessed Taylor defending his faith and once it was over asked us to teach them how to do the same. Praise you Lord Jesus for opening up this avenue to us which was previously closed!

I also learned that I need to start bringing my camera to mass. Malachi is now an altar server and he has read prayer intentions in Spanish. Yes that is right Malachi read in Spanish. He had a hard time reading in English but now Padre Paco is encouraging him to read prayer intentions in Spanish with some help.

At mass this past Monday Ruth led choir practice in Spanish. Yes that is right, she led the choir in SPANISH. Praise you Jesus Christ. Ruth told the kids what to sing and then proceeded to sing the song into the microphone with the correct Spanish words. God is so good!

Now after a few words it is onto the picture book. We hope you enjoy it!~ Katie

Malachi sharing his testimony in Spanish with the people from the pueblo of Puerto Rico with the help of Taylor. Malachi shared that he loves Jesus more than his own life! I love it when God speaks to me through my children.

Teaching the kids Football Americano as they refer to it here. This happens a couple times a week in the afternoon when it is a little cooler. Usually we play after we do our teaching on Jesus and the church.

Some of our neighborhood friends who come everyday to play and to learn. These children have been such a blessing to our family. They were the first kids we met. They have been great friends to our children and they are excited to learn about the faith. They knock at our door throughout the day to make sure that we are still planning on teaching them in the afternoon. They are the first ones at our door when there is no school and they come to lead us to the rosary every night.

Learning about forgiveness with the help of Brother Francis! Praise you Jesus for putting it on our hearts to bring all of our children's movies. It turns out that all of them can play in Spanish. We used these movies to help in teaching our children and now we can use them to teach the children in Caspizapa.

The rosaries I have been making. The cord is twine, painted wooden beads, and metal crucifixes.

Guess who won this wrestling match? Faustina has the upper hand. There are many times we walk into the girls room to find out why they are giggling. Faustina is usually on Adele staring at her. These two are so funny.

Waiting for the rain to pass. What it rains here in the Amazon jungle? Who would have thought that? Next off to purchase more beads for the rosaries. We promised to make more over the weekend to hand out before mass on Monday.

Riding to mass in style. Be sure to keep a look out for flying birds! The hazards of missionary life- a bird to the forehead as Taylor found out last Sunday! No worries though. He only had a headache. 

This young lady was very excited to receive a new shirt and a sweatshirt. When we were handing out the clothes we were very surprised to see the sweatshirts since it hardly ever gets below 75. The people here wear sweatshirts when it is in the 70's. We are just thankful for the cooler weather to finally be able to move without sweating instantly.

Begging for rice is hard work. We have accompanied Padre Paco to beg for rice. The rice is then used to feed the children through the Comedor. The children are able to purchase lunch from the comedor daily for 1 sol. A sol is roughly 33 cents. The typical meal is rice and meat. Sometimes it is the peruvian version of spaghetti. It is one way the church ensures that the children receive one meal a day.

Yes we ate this. Any thoughts what it is? It is a snail. The snails here are incredibly large. This snail was about the size of two fists put together. Our wonderful neighbors had us over for dinner on Leo's birthday. We ate snail and jaunes. Jaunes are rice with chicken and an olive cooked in banana leaves. I was so proud of all the kids. They ate everything that was placed before them. They smiled as they ate the snail. I can say that this was the first meal that they didn't ask for seconds though. 

Anthony hugging one of the Bibles that Holy Family Catholic School supplied us with thanks to the awesome penny war they had. We hope you enjoy those extra minutes of recess!!!! The youth will hopefully love their Bibles as much as Anthony does.

Adele taking a little siesta on the church pew. Why is it that all of my children insist on taking naps during mass when they just woke for the morning.

I never understood why everyone calls Faustina a muñeca, which means doll. There have been many times when people have stopped my to ask why I am carrying a doll only to be surprised that Faustina is a real baby. Well after looking at this picture that I snapped after mass I can now see what everyone else see. She looks like a peaceful little doll. My little muñeca. 

Guess who found a mono? Taylor did. This little guy was so happy to play with Taylor. He jumped out of the tree and started climbing all over him. He ran up Taylor's arm and tried stealing his glasses. He also nibbled on his ears. Taylor said that it felt like he had suction cups on his fingers. That was something he didn't expect. Just so you know we did not bring him home. I didn't need another baby to change diapers on. 

Happy Mother's Day Mary!

We have had the great pleasure here in Caspizapa Peru in participating in the celebrations of Mother's Day and the month of Mary. The tradition here in as in many places is to pray a rosary with the traveling statue of Mary. We have been participating in this every evening with the community. It has been a humbling but amazing experience. Humbling because the small children can pray in Spanish better than I can. Amazing to see their fervor and love they have for our Blessed Mother. Processing by candlelight and singing hymns loudly through the streets traveling to the next house with Mary. We had the great pleasure of having Mary come to our house last Friday. With our house packed with women and children like sardines in a can we prayed and sang fervently with great love and respect for our Blessed Mother. Begging for her intercession to her Son Jesus Christ for the growing of the faith in this community and for the children.

We feel that Mary has had a special hand in having us sent here to this community, this region in Peru. This was made apparent to us at our first meeting with we the priests. As they shared with us the background and demographics of this area it seemed oddly familiar to me and became clear when they shared the patron of the region is Our Lady of Perpetual Help. As it was in the early days of the settlement of Wisconsin in the year of 1859 when Our Lady of Good Help appeared to Adele Brise the area filled with young immigrant families attempting to scratch out a living in a new untamed land without easy access to the sacraments and religious formation. The Blessed Mother appeared to Adele with this message "Teach my children about Jesus, how to make the sign of the cross, confess their sins, and receive Holy Communion. Do not be afraid for I will be with you." And so it is here in the province of San Martin and the region of Picota that the majority of the people are young immigrants from other parts of Peru. We work with two amazing priests who are in charge of 120 pueblos stretching across vast areas of the jungle. And Mary has brought us here from Wisconsin where her message began to a young Belgian girl to Peru and said" teach my children about my son Jesus. Help them to prepare for their sacraments and help them to see the dignity in each other and themselves through the Theology of the Body a great gift given to the church by Saint John Paul II.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

I was. Today I experienced a brief moment during the crucifixion. Around 11:30 I received a knock on my door. It was one of the animadors of Caspizapa. She had with her a young woman. They were looking for the number of Padre Paco. I explained in my very limited Castellano that I didn’t have our phone because Taylor took it to Picota with him. When she heard this she was deeply troubled. She went on to explain that the young girl’s brother was very ill. They needed Padre Paco. I explained that when Taylor returned I would have him call Padre Paco. Just then I remembered our bottle of Holy Water that was in the kitchen. I brought it to her and explained that it was blessed water. She grabbed my arm and said let’s go. I popped my head back inside the house and asked the kids to play nicely while I went out for a few minutes. 

The young lady led us to her house. As we walked I prayed silently for the graces necessary to heal the man if it was the Lord’s will. We went inside of the mud house where we were led to a room where the family was gathered. There on the bed was a very ill man. He was so weak from dehydration. His breathing was slow and shallow. He moved every so often in pain unable even to moan due to his weakness. His mother was weeping by his bedside. She knows that it is only a matter of time before her 33 year old son will be called home to be with Jesus. 

I laid my hands upon him and prayed for God’s healing and comfort. I placed Holy Water on his hands and head. I again laid hands upon him and asked God to ease his pain. The animador then led us in a decade of the rosary as well as a song. I asked if this man had been to the doctor but I was unable to make out if he had seen a doctor in Tarapoto or if the only doctor that could help was in Tarapoto an hour and a half away. After a half an hour of being with the man and his family we left. On our walk back to my house I asked the animador if there was anything we could do. She said no this man is going to die. Knowing this I called Padre Paco and asked if he could come and administer the last rites. This evening he is coming to administer the sacrament for this young man.

Upon returning home my emotions finally surfaced with what I had just experienced. I wept in the entrance of my house. I leaned on the wall and slowly slid down it weeping while relaying the experience to Taylor. I can no longer remember the young man’s name. All I know is that I was with Jesus. I was with Jesus today. Watching Him slowly die. Hearing Him ask for water and when it was brought to Him He was unable to drink it because of His weakness. I saw Mary weeping at the foot of the cross. Weeping for her child. Knowing there was nothing she could do other than be there for Him. Knowing her presence was the only comfort she could offer her son. ~Katie

" So long, Farewell..."

We are in our final week of language school. This time has been so blessed. God has blessed us with so many opportunities to see Him in the people we meet on the streets. We have had many opportunities to speak of Him with those around us. God also has blessed us with many opportunities to share our testimony. This shouldn't be surprising to us. He always seems to bring a group of people to us with at least one English speaking person who can translate our testimony to the rest of the group. Praise you Jesus!

This past weekend we were blessed with an opportunity to see the second oldest Catholic Church in Peru. It just so happens to be in Huanchaco which is a short ten minute drive away. It was amazing to see one of the places where the church had started in Peru.

We are excited to be returning to Picota. Next Sunday starts our 18 hour bus ride. We are hoping that it is only going to be that long but this time we are going to plan for a much longer journey just in case. We are praying that there will be no mudslides during our journey. As much as we enjoyed the beautiful mountain delay we are hoping for a shorter return trip but God only knows how long it is going to be.

(This is the view from the church.)

A pick pocket, a chance meeting, and a shake

Well it was bound to happen but it couldn't have happened on a better day. On Good Friday while Taylor was in the market picking up groceries he had his phone taken by a pick pocket. He said that all of a sudden the market went from having no one in it to him being surrounded by a few people. It seemed to happen in slow mo but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Taylor could feel the person push the phone out of his front pocket and he tried to bat it out of their hand to no avail. He then tried to grab one of the people surrounding him but he managed to grab the wrong person. They all scattered in different directions so he as unable to find his phone. We have been able to activate an app that will wipe the phone once it is connected to the Internet so none of our contact information will be compromised.

Now you must be thinking why on earth could this not have happened on a better day. How could someone say that? Taylor's phone was lifted on Good Friday. The one day that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world. The day in which He freely gave His life for you and for me. We were able to once again let go of the stuff and turn our attention onto the Lord. Sure it sucks that we no longer have the photos and videos from our time in Trujillo but that doesn't compare to the beauty and love of Jesus. Our Savior went to the cross knowing each of the sins that I would commit in my life and died for them all. He took my heavy load and bore it for me. On Wednesday of Holy Week we participated in a candlelit procession through the center of Trujillo. We walked along side a life sized statue of Jesus carrying the cross. This statue was carried by 18 men. They swayed as they walked under the burden of the statue. And as we walked along side of it all I could think of was how Mary, John, and Mary Magdalene felt as they walked along with Jesus to Calvary. How the weight of my sins made Jesus sway under them. This is what we were able to focus on when Taylor's phone was gone. We were able to focus on what Jesus did for us. How He bore our sins and we were able to praise Him more deeply because of it!

This Saturday we spent our family day during the historical sights around Trujillo. We were excited to see the place where the Xoloitzcuintle was developed. For those of you who do not know we had one of these dogs when we lived in Wisconsin. Her name was Alice and she traveled with us everywhere. Who would have thought that we would have ended up in a place where there are "Alice's" everywhere we look?

 Anyways while on tour of the Temple of the Moon we happened to meet a group of American tourists. Faustina and Adele happened to draw their attention to our family and we were able to chat with the group for a few minutes. They asked how long we were visiting and Taylor explained that we are missionaries in Picota studying Castellano in Trujillo. One of the women asked where we were from. When we mentioned we were from Wisconsin she asked for the town since she was from Wisconsin. It turns out that she was raised in Appleton. After chatting fr a bit longer Taylor handed her our business card and the lady and part of her group proceeded to walk away. One of the other women in her group asked if we knew who she was. We replied that she was from Appleton, Wisconsin. This other woman then went on to explain that we had just met the direct of the PeaceCorp for the United States of America. We were stunned by this. The Lord was truly at work during this chance meeting. Our tour was supposed to have been at this site 30 minutes before but do to a mix up we were behind schedule. Praise you Lord Jesus for the delay without it we would never have met this woman!

The lat thing I wanted to write about is just something funny that happened to us this morning. We experienced our first earthquake. It was such a minor one that we didn't even know that it had taken place. The owner of the hostel we are staying at mentioned it to the only other English speaking person staying here. He is a young man from England. I was walking past when she asked him if he felt it. Both of us were stunned that we had just been in an earthquake and neither of us even knew it. There was no damage in Trujillo and everyone is all right. I just thought it was quite funny that we didn't even know that we had experienced one.~Katie

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!

JUST A LITTLE BIT

Well we have been in Peru for two weeks now. It has been both wonderful and challenging at times mostly because we don't know the language. We have fallen in love with Picota and the people. We see that there is a great need here and are blessed to have been called to serve the people.

Here we are at a home visit with this elderly woman. Three generations of single mothers live in this home.

Picota and the outlying pueblos are in need of the Theology of the Body. We have learned that over 75% of the population is under 24 years of age. In some of the pueblos the percentage is much higher. This stems from first and foremost the lack of knowledge of Christ. Christ is who we are all called to love and it is His love that we are in search of. Often times this is sadly misunderstood and instead of His love people try to substitute Him for the love of others or self. 

We met this fifteen year old girl while visiting her abuela, grandmother, when we were told that she is pregnant and expecting her first child.

We have found that most of the children having children are living in broken homes without a father. This is very evident throughout Picota. We visited three homes last week and two of them were shared amongst three generations of single mothers. It is sad to think that these young girls have no father in their life, but what is even more sad is that they do not know their true Father. They do not know that He is with them and cares deeply for them; so much so, as to send His son to die for them. 

Calampa fixing the roof on the chapel at the Pastoral Center.

But there is hope! Jesus is alive here!!!

The people here are open to the Good News and are starving for it. Upon hearing God's Word there is a change in them. They want to live for Him and to change their ways. This is evident in the life of a couple we met. The woman was a teenager when she became pregnant with a child. It was not long after they found Christ a few years later that they became married in the Church. 

Padre Paco teaching the children with Faustina in his arms.

I come to you now to beg for prayers. Please pray for the people of Picota, Peru. They are in desperate need of God. I know that through your prayers and sacrifices God will hear your pleas and answer the needs of His children here. Please pray for modesty and chastity. Please pray for a love of God that burns in the hearts of the young and the old. Please pray that we will be open to what God is leading us to do for the people here. Please pray for the continued holiness of Padre Leopoldo and Padre Paco. I also ask that you pray for the Sisters that serve here that they may continue to serve God and that their order will continue to grow. 

Padre Paco and the Sisters at the future site of a boarding school for girls. This is one way they are trying to change the situation for young girls.