The Georges in Peru

"How is she going to get here?  It's 4 km from her house." Mary Beth reasoned. 

"I think she'll come.  She has her ways to getting around." 

"She doesn't even have a watch!" 

"Maybe she can look at a cell phone or watch the sun.  She's smart.  She's found ways to make things work.  She'll figure something out!" I said confidently as we drove home from her place Thursday morning.  We had gone with Pastor Elvis and his wife Rosita to Ana's house (not her real name) to help her with her well.  It had somehow filled with sand and she had to carry water from a nearby creek (see last post), though it didn't look like her well had gotten flooded as we had understood before.

"What do you know about wells?"  I asked Elvis, hoping he had more experience than I had.  

When we arrived with shovels and buckets, we realized the shovels were useless.  But if one of us crawled down into the well, maybe he could pass buckets of sand up to the other.  Ascertaining that the well walls weren't a cave-in risk and after Elvis' own admittance that he wasn't skinny enough, I volunteered to go down.  I crawled into the bottom of the well (it was about 2-3 meters from the surface to the water level) which was so narrow I could barely bend my knees enough to scoop out a bucket of wet sand and pass it up to Elvis.  After a few minutes of such manouvers, I was standing in water.  I continued digging until I couldn't reach any further down and we drew filthy water from the bottom until it was less filthy and we couldn't get much more out.  Rosita went with Ana to get some forage for her sheep while we dug out her well.  After they returned and the job was done, Ana exclaimed, "Thank you so much!  God really does exist!"  

"He sure does!  Come visit our church Sunday!"

"I'll be there.  What day is today?"

Ana was at the church door at 10 am sharp!  She reports the water comes out clean and tasty now.

Every year I try to file my taxes electronically and every year I get the message, "We cannot accept your return because the primary tax filer is deceased in our records."  In May, while we were in the States recovering from our surgeries at the Mayo Clinic I called the IRS to get Mary Beth's name changed in their system.  I added, "I know you probably can't do anything about it, but I've been deceased in your system since my first wife died 7 years ago and would like to get that fixed!"  The person on the other end of the line decided I had thrown down the gauntlet and took it on as a challenge.  Egging him on, I added, "I've heard it takes an act of congress to solve such issues, and I even called my congressman in Nebraska, but they evidently felt they had better things to spend their time on."  This guys likes a challenge.  "This is going to take a while, but I'm going to get it fixed," he said confidently. 

A few days ago, my sister Carolyn got a letter from the IRS in the mail:

I wasn't convinced until I resubmitted my taxes for 2020 (the IRS happily took my money years ago, but didn't bother to file my forms) and the IRS said it was accepted!  After years of waiting on hold on the phone with the IRS and the Social Security Administration I'm no longer dead!  Hopefully, it is God's will that I keep it that way for a while!

Saturday, Mia graduated summa cum laude from Azusa Pacific University with a degree in allied health (with the idea of going to physical therapy school in the future)!  We're so proud of her! 

She is will hang out with us in Phoenix while Mary Beth has her surgery on Friday morning at 8:30 am to remove her 3 titanium bars (pray for that to go well, please!).  

Mary Beth's parents, Jim and Linda, came down to the States to be with us too!  Today we visited the Grand Canyon, which is the most awe-inspiring thing one can see on this side of heaven I think.

As of last week, we have been in Punta de Bombón a year!  It's been a great year with a lot going on:  starting a new church, buying a house (remodeling the kitchen), getting Allen's heart ablated, seeing the town change from quiet chilly winter months to warm summer days full of tourists, etc.

A week ago we had a cheese-making class at our house!  It was well attended with a new visitor whose husband milks cattle, so she was interested in investigating options for what to do when they can't sell all of their milk.

We've been trying to perfect making cheddar cheese, since it isn't available in Peru.  We're getting close!

“Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1

Greetings from sleepy Punta de Bombón.  We are told that at this time of year this place is usually hopping with tourists coming out to enjoy the vast beaches, but this year is a little different.  With all the protests going on, the town is quiet and tranquil.  We returned yesterday from our yearly conference near Lima and can understand why.  A ‘cease fire’ was called over Christmas that got Ben and Mia safely back to the States.  When it ended, protests were slow to start up again and the mission felt it would be ok to hold our annual spiritual life conference near Lima.  While we were there however, the Cusco airport closed for a few days because of protests, which delayed the return of Abancay and Cusco missionaries for a while.  Thankfully, the Lima airport was unaffected and Paul was able to fly back to the US on Monday without any problems.  We made it back to Arequipa on Tuesday. Upon our arrival we found out the road to La Punta was blocked by protesters and decided to wait for an opportunity to make our final leg home.  Yesterday, we had had enough waiting, and having heard that buses were getting though in the wee morning hours, we headed out at 4:40 am hoping to catch a minivan to take us the distance.  Thankfully, we were able to get on the road around 5:45 and just managed to squeak past protesters setting up tires to burn in the nearby town of Cocachacra at 8:00 am. I know these narrow misses are not casual occurrences but answered prayers so thanks for praying!  We are super thankful.  Even so, I believe that as Christians our goal in life is not and should not always be to be comfortable and safe, but rather to glorify God.  Sometimes this means miraculous blessings (like safe travel in a divided country), and sometimes it means ‘unjustified’ suffering.  Whichever it is, may my heart say “I’m so thankful to be walking with you oh my God!”

                                                    Helping to lead music at Conference.