One of our good friends from Musa, Róman, works at a mechanics shop in Lima. He is always getting new cuts, bruises, and breaks. This time it was his finger. He crushed it somehow, and now has a few days off work, so we hung out.

Just to prove to us that he isn’t a wimp, he showed us all the things he can still do while having a pin through his finger and a large bandage.

Yep, he is the same Román.

They were doing good…

and then they started their linguistics class.

We are in a new apartment now (for a few more days) and we really enjoy it.

We had the jovenes (young people) over and ate, played games, and hung out.

When guys are in the kitchen, it can get a little scary.

And with the girls it is worse.

The men at the church in Manchay put on a special dinner for their wives and families for Mother’s Day.

We had Aji de Gallina, which is shredded chicken in a sauce made from the Aji pepper. It is poured on top of rice and potatoes. Very good!

Here is how to make Baked Potatoes the mountain way:

Dig a hole.

Start a fire in the hole. Put potatoes in the hole. Bury potatoes and coals.

Wait.

Dig up potatoes.

Eat potatoes.
(I know this may be a little technical, but it is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.)

The new Arriba Group is here, and ready to go! We helped them get on the public transportation, find the grocery store, and work their way around yesterday. They are getting settled in for a great year of learning and growing. Please pray that God will use this year greatly in their personal walk with Him, and also those with whom they will be working.

Travel Status – Back in Lima again! We arrived back from Urubamba this past Saturday afternoon. Our time spent in the Andes mountains at the small Bible school was both challenging and exciting. Seth thoroughly enjoyed teaching the Baptist Distinctives class, and Crystal had a great time with the girls many of the evenings for dorm meetings. Seth also had many opportunities to preach in various churches throughout the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Future Schedule – We are planning on staying in Lima for the next three weeks, and then flying back to Minnesota. Lord willing, we will be visiting two more seminaries in the city, speaking several more times, packing up our belongings, continuing Spanish studies, and saying goodbye to friends.
Prayer Requests – Pray that 1. God will continue to fashion us into His image 2. that we will continue to stay focused for our final weeks, and 3. we will have wisdom for future decisions concerning ministry and studies.
The Peru Side – The diversity of the country of Peru was evidenced at the Bible school. Within the small group of students, five different languages were present. Only a minority learned Spanish as their first language. There were students who spoke Yine from jungle villages located 4 days by bus, boat and canoe. A group was present who spoke Aymara from the high plateau around Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world) located in southern Peru. And there were others who spoke Quechua (2nd national language of Peru) from villages spattered throughout the heights of the Andes mountains. Both of us were faced with the challenge of bridging the language gap from English to Spanish while others were bridging the gap on the other side.