January 2019 Player Letter

2019 This year one significant change looms for our family. This is the year our oldest son, William, graduates from high school and goes to college. We have known this day was coming, but it is still a hard thing to prepare for. The past few months we have helped him fill out both college and scholarship applications. For the next few months, he will be looking to complete job applications for the summer and of course, more scholarship applications. (Please see below for ways you can help us during this time.) But all this occurs in the midst of normal life and ministry. We count it a privilege to continue serving in two important roles here in Peru. Bill continues teaching the math courses for both junior high and high school as well as helping teach sixth-grade math one day a week. Besides the full teaching load, he continues as the school principal, leading chapel on Monday mornings and dealing with the day to day running of the school. Joy continues in various roles at SAMAIR. As flight coordinator, she is on call almost any time of the day or night as people ask about the weather for the next day or want to discuss upcoming schedules. This year she has also been asked to be the safety manager. This added responsibility involves working both proactively to improve safety and re-actively to investigate and correct known issues. But her favorite job is still flying. This past week, she was once again assigned to fly for the Shawi Bible Conference. The Shawi are a large tribe located in the province of Loreto, approximately an hour and a half flight north of Pucallpa. There has been a long-standing missionary work among the Shawi, but current missionaries are getting excited as they see new growth and strong leadership finally emerging among the churches of this community. The conference was a time for pastors and leaders of neighboring villages to meet for a full week of Bible teaching. The flights were made not only to bring in the Bible teachers but the many participants who could not make the 2 day walk between communities. Always scheduled in January, the conference includes the known challenge of the rainy season. Many of the airstrips were muddy including the one where the conference was held which added an increased workload and degree of difficulty. But God was faithful and the flights were accomplished with safety. Over 30 Shawi (plus at least that many children)  and the 11 missionaries who led the conference all traveled home in safety. NOTE: Below are two pictures of the conference: Joy's program manager loading our muddy airplane and a Shawi pastor's wife after the conference. This semester is also an important one for our high school junior Cullen. On his horizon is a trip to Lima in April to take the ACT college exam. He continues to be interested in film and photography and is looking for some type of job or internship this summer in the US that would give him needed experience as he looks toward college applications for next year. Camilla is finishing sixth grade and developing her studying and organization skills which are important at this age. Her new interest is learning how to play the guitar and we hear her regularly in her room singing softly as she learns chords and strumming patterns. At the school's Christmas program she played "Joy to the World" and did very well. (Want to see her performance? Click on the following link: Camilla guitar) Still setting her alarm for 6:20 in the morning, she runs a mile before school, putting everyone else in the house to shame. We appreciate your prayers for our family. As you can see above this really is a time of family transition. Please look at the small blurbs below regarding some financial needs we have and read about the fun things we did over Christmas to make memories with William before he leaves home. In Christ, Bill, Joy, William, Cullen, Camilla Making memories with our family: This past Christmas two churches sent us generous Christmas gifts above our regular support. We chose to invest these dollars into the gift of a family trip rather than individual presents. The Peru we live in is a hot, humid jungle, but there is much more to Peru than our daily experience. The mountain cities of Peru are filled with amazing things to see such as volcanoes, both active and dormant, canyons, and rich local culture. We chose to visit both the Colca Canyon (the world's deepest canyon) as well as Lake Titicaca (the world's highest navigable lake.) For fun, you can google these two locations for more information. We had about 6 days to make this trip so although we did not stay long, we enjoyed the challenges of the hikes at high altitudes, the amazing views, and the cold weather. (William also was the only one to swim in Lake Titicaca, which he said it was cold-- quite the understatement!) Pictures: The top picture is our of our family on the roof for the Arequipa cathedral and below that are the kids standing on the man-made floating islands of the Uros people group. FINANCIAL NEEDS: We wanted to let you know about a financial need that we have. When we returned to Peru, there was a change in our agreement between Wycliffe and South America Mission. Part of the agreement was the request that we continue to participate in South America Mission field funds and administrative dues. In order to make it fair among all of us working here together, we have been asked to contribute to SAM Peru field US$485 dollars a month, the same as the other SAM missionaries. By faith, we are currently trying to pay this from our own income, but as we look at the expenses of sending William to the US this year and Cullen the next, we realize we will deplete our savings trying to pay this ourselves. We have an urgent need to raise our support level as soon as possible. The Peru field is giving us an 80 dollar a month break until June when at that point, we will need to contribute the entire amount. Please pray how you can join our support team on a monthly basis. PRAYER AND PRAISE: 1. We praise God for the continued spiritual growth we see in our kids. 2. We are thankful for safety each day. 3. We praise God for the opportunity to have special memories with our kids this year. 4. IMPORTANT: Pray for employment options for William and Cullen this summer. School here in Peru doesn't get out until the end of May so the boys won't arrive and be able to apply for a summer job until the beginning of June. We would love to have something already lined up for them, if possible, instead of just arriving and starting the job search at that point. This is where we could use your help.  5. Pray for our financial needs and more monthly supporters. 6. Pray for William's transition to college and for the rest of the family's adaptation without him.