A Busy Summer (but not all work) June 2023

 Dear friends and family,

Greetings from Pucallpa, Peru where the weather has been sunny but not blazing hot for the past few weeks. We have had a few "frios" where a cold front has moved through the area and we run for our long-sleeved clothes because it's in the low 70s.


Last letter we asked for prayer for William as he was setting up an internship and needed housing. In answer to these prayers, William was able to find housing that met his needs. He is learning about commutes and has two new roommates. Fellow missionaries in North Carolina are gifting William a car that was used by their daughter while she was in college. As a family they want to bless another missionary kid with a college car! Cullen is hard at work filming and producing videos at Lake Geneva Youth Camp. His latest production can be viewed here.

Joy's scans in May came back clean, and she continues to be able to take the medications without severe side effects. We praise God for his continued blessing on Joy and her health. Continue praying for healing of her neuropathy and for the consistent muscle cramps she experiences. Her next set of scans will be in the first week of August.

To that effect, we are traveling as a family to Chicago for those scans. Most importantly, we will finally celebrate our 25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! We are setting aside ten days to travel while Camilla attends teen camp before Joy's scans. When we return, the boys will be done working, and we can have a few days of everyone together again.

Since the beginning of June, Joy has once again added the interim program manager of SAMAIR to her list of responsibilities. This includes a supervisory role of the team, managing team dynamics, extra zoom meetings with both SAM Peru leaders and JAARS aviation program managers from around the world, as well as making decisions regarding operations and spending. She also continues scheduling the flights, billing and receiving of flight income and maintains her position as safety manager for the team. After her next scans in August, she will once again look into submitting paperwork to the FAA to regain her flight medical. Pray for this process as it will involve extra costs and the willingness of her doctors and the FAA to efficiently process this information.


Bill is working this summer on class prep as well as light maintenance at the school. If anyone knows how to replace floorboards they can give him a call. Lots of painting, replacing mosquito screens, and moving around whiteboards and bulletin boards are in his future. Praise God, the school looks to be set for teachers in the fall and we should have about the same number of students. The school recently had a promotional video produced. It is available for viewing here.

Please be in prayer with us for these things:
(1) Safety and God's protection for both of our sons as they work this summer.
(2) That we are able to arrange to pick up the car and figure out all the paperwork involved.
(3) Clean scans for Joy at the beginning of August.

Last but not least, we wanted to highlight some of the ministry opportunities our daughter Camilla has been involved with in the past months. In May, her high school went by river to a small Shipibo community where they painted the school building and ran a day program for the kids. A few weeks later, she participated in an evangelistic event in a local neighborhood where 74 kids made decisions for Christ. She also helped out at a local Peruvian school during "English" week leading worship and interacting with students while they practiced their English with a native speaker. Take a look at some of the photos below.

As always, thank you for your prayers and support for our ministry as we bring God's truth of love and redemption to the people groups here in the jungles of Peru.

In Christ,

Joy
Here are a few photos showing what Camilla has been doing the past few months.

Spring News 2022

 

Christ has risen!

 

Spring is always a favorite time of year as we celebrate the reason we are serving our Lord in Peru: the hope of eternal salvation that springs from the truth of Christ's death for all, knowing that because of His resurrection, we have new life in Him. I Cor 15

As we are reminded why we are here, we count it a privilege to serve in our respective fields. Aviation has continued with a tight flight schedule this spring, but we are looking forward to increasing the number of people we can serve and fly in the upcoming months. The spring months for teachers are always busy as they come through the "home stretch." Bill continues to look for ways to keep his students engaged while knowing that their minds are already focused on all of the end of the school social events. Next year SAM Academy already knows that it is losing three of its long-term teachers: elementary, high school Bible/history, and Spanish teachers. Pray for us during the recruiting process as we try and fill these positions for next semester: 

Besides our normal weekday ministries, we are also involved in other ministries to encourage both Peruvian nationals and the missionary community. One of these events was an evening of worship that Bill, playing the keyboard, and Camilla, playing the guitar, participated in. They practiced for many hours and in the end, the service was a meaningful time of praise and adoration.  We were also encouraged during a week-long South America Mission and TEAM Peru missionary conference, which focused on unity. This is the first time in almost three years we were able to gather from all the different ministry locations around the country to celebrate what God is doing and to spur each other to live in a community. (see photos below)

We also wanted to give you an update on our church's second construction phase. Our local church, Mil Palmeras, has been asked to move off the SAM property where it has been renting for many years. We are trusting God for funds to put in bathrooms, an office, and storage facilities so that we can meet more regularly at our new property site. Please watch this video for an update on that project. 

Lastly, we need to brag on our youngest daughter Camilla. Next week we will be celebrating a big 15-year-old party, Latin American style with a modified "quinceañera". We are proud of her kind and cheerful spirit, her desire to minister to children through helping in the church's nursery and the Peruvian outreach "Granito de Amor" that is restarting its ministry to kids, and her gifts and talents in music. She is not only a diligent student but her writing has recently been recognized as she won honorable mention in a young writer contest for the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Here is another example of a story she wrote a while back about our non-traditional Easter hunt celebration. Cascarones 

In two weeks, Joy returns to Chicago for another PET scan. We continue to thank God that the medication seems to be effective in keeping her cancer in remission at this time. Some of the side effects of nausea have subsided. Continue to pray that the neuropathy in her feet (caused by the first immunotherapy treatment in 2019) would completely heal and that the muscle cramps she currently experiences would subside.

We have some SPECIFIC PRAYER requests and NEEDS for this summer: 
1. William has an internship lined up in downtown Wheaton but is in need of housing in that area since at this point he does not have a car to commute from his grandparents in Chicago.
2. Regardless of the housing, we are looking to purchase a small used car for William to serve as his first car. We are aware that this is extremely challenging for almost everyone purchasing a used car in the US at this time and is complicated by us living overseas. Fortunately, we believe in a God of the impossible.
3. Pray for Cullen as he volunteers at Lake Geneva Youth Camp this summer as their videographer for the many weeks of camp. He also knows that he is in need of a vehicle for his last few years of college at Taylor University.
4. Pray for Joy's upcoming scans at the beginning of May and her visit with our sons and family in Chicago.
5. Pray for new teachers for SAM Academy for next year; both for the logistics of the ones we are hoping to recruit as well as for those we don't know about yet.

As always we appreciate your prayers and support. We simply could not be here without them.

In Christ,

Bill and Joy Carrera

Bill and Camilla taking part in the missionary worship service.

The 2022 SAM-TEAM Conference saw missionaries from all over Peru gather to worship, study Romans 12, and encourage each other.

June 2021 School is done...

 

Don't know who is prouder,
Dad the Principal
or the Graduate!

Greetings from Peru. We hope the start to your summer has been a good one. For the month of May, we were able to have our sons with us for a few weeks, and while it was sad to see them leave, we are so thankful for the time together. They both found jobs at a Christian camp for the summer, which was an answer to prayer. 

With graduation a few weeks ago, the academic part of the school year came to a close. The 8th-grade graduation (8 students) and the high school graduation (5 students) took place on different nights due to COVID restrictions. Camilla was excited to march with her friends, and she proudly insists she is now a high schooler. The list of projects the school staff put off during the months we were not in person has now become our priority. Mosquito screens need repair, books have to be organized, and classrooms need to be cleaned and painted. Bill has also started working on outlines for classes. We anticipate returning to in-person instruction and are planning accordingly. 

Next week Joy begins her new role as interim program director for the aviation department while her boss goes on a four-month furlough. She will be picking up additional accounting tasks this summer as well. The flight schedule is getting busy as we have the privilege of helping our partner mission organizations get back to normal. For the first time in a year, we will be flying young indigenous leaders and their families back to Bible school. The Shawi Bible conference canceled last year has also been rescheduled. We continue with an increased number of medical emergency flights. Pray for us as we negotiate payment from the national health services for over three months of flights that need to be paid for. Lastly continue to pray that the FAA would grant Joy her flight medical. The oncologist consultant has been sitting on her file since March. Pray that this individual would feel compelled to review her file and rule favorably in this case.

Everyone enjoyed a boat ride with friends.

Camilla plans on sleeping, riding her motorcycle (she recently figured out third gear), and spending as much time laughing with the few friends who are not traveling this summer. She now has a bird, a dog, and a cat, although the dog is mostly Bill's dog. She is going to be the leader of worship at school chapels next year and has collected piles of music to look through.

We have a trip to Chicago scheduled for the end of July for Joy's medical scans and are looking forward to seeing family for the short two weeks we will be there. The boys will be ending their time at camp, and we should be able to see them as well. William is moving into an apartment at Wheaton College and we might be shopping for kitchen supplies and giving some impromptu cooking lessons.

Prayer Requests:
(1) Continued safety and protection during the emergency flights SAMAIR is doing.
(2) Pray that Joy's scans in the first week of August would be clear and that the doctors would be able to give a good report.
(3) We praise God for his protection from COVID during our time here in Peru.
(4) Pray for ministries to resume to normal this fall including aviation, churches, and in-person school.

In Christ,
Bill, Joy, and Camilla

May 2020 Prayer Letter: Everything has changed...

Everything has changed

Dear Friends and Family,

     It is not very often you can look back at a prayer letter while writing your next one and discover everything you planned did not happen. We had speaking engagements planned and penciled in. Awana programs, a mission conference, a women's brunch, and a trip to Brazil to renew Bill's visa were all on the agenda. They were not to be; God had other plans.

     The second weekend in March we flew to Atlanta for the wedding of Joy's niece. This was to be the start of a busy schedule, but instead it was the first and last thing we did outside the home. That next week we kept checking our phones to see if future plans were going to hold. One by one they all fell by the wayside. The shelter-in-place order for Chicago, like many around the country, has closed churches and forced small groups to meet by telecommuting platforms.
       All of us have had our lives turned upside down. The day before traveling to the wedding, William received the shocking news that Wheaton College had made the decision to shut down the campus and move the last quarter online. He returned to campus that following week to say a few goodbyes and pack his room. Good news for him is that he completed his finals last week, and his first year of college is one to remember. Camilla and Cullen also transitioned to e-learning that week, a temporary solution that later became reality for the rest of the semester. Cullen's graduation ceremony was cancelled as was Camilla's production of Charlie Brown through the Chicago Christian Youth Theater program. However as resilient children, they make these loses and transitions look easy. They have followed schedules without any prompting from us, starting each day around at nine o'clock and finishing shortly after a lunch break. As I type this letter, Cullen is taking his AP Calculus test online. He feels well prepared, he says.
       Through all this we have seen the hand of God active in our lives. We had hoped to return to Peru in January, with Joy flying to Lima for treatments once a month. When COVID-19 shut down not just America, but the whole world, we realized that God had spared us a huge trial as Peru's restrictions were more severe than Chicago's. Within 24 hours, the Peruvian president suspended all international and national flights meaning either Joy would have been separated from her family if she had been in Lima at the time or making Joy's treatment impossible for us without having to request emergency evacuation from the US embassy. Here in Chicago, while Bill is not able to go with her, Joy has been able to continue monthly treatments and scans requested by her doctor. Her last scan in April continues to show no growth of any tumors anywhere else in her body.
       While we were sad that Cullen was not able to return to finish his senior year in Peru, because we were here in Chicago, he had the opportunity to apply for a scholarship for urban leaders. We were first made aware of this scholarship to Taylor University last fall. It was a long application process, with three steps involving essays, evaluated group dynamics, and interviews. At the end of February, Cullen was named an Acts 6 scholar and given a full ride scholarship to Taylor. He will start classes in the fall, studying film and media production. This scholarship is also an internship as it invests heavily in urban students who want to make a difference in their communities. Cullen already has begun online classes with his fellow scholarship cadre and is looking forward to other activities this summer before school starts in the fall.
       While we are not speaking at conferences, Bill is working on teaching materials and developing his writing skills by reworking stories he wrote about growing up in a large family here in Chicago. There have been hours spent trying to get our pictures safely archived from old CD's to an external drive and then correcting their dates and compiling them in a format that we can find and use in the future. Joy also has some nursing continued education credits due this month as well. Of course we are enjoying being together as a family one more time before everyone separates in the fall. We were reminded at Easter that we are at the one year mark of Joy's cancer diagnosis. Last Mother's Day our family was separated by a continent as Joy was facing major surgery that next week. Those reminders make us immensely grateful that God has brought us through this past year, and we can rejoice in the many amazing gifts He has continued to give us.
     Our future plans remain in God's timing. We have already tried twice to plan our return to Peru only to be postponed. This time we are waiting before attempting to nail down a firm date. However, with this said, we hope to return to Peru in August. We will confirm the date after Joy's last treatment and result of last scans. This time we will return with only Camilla in tow, a big change for all of us.

We have a few prayer requests as this season of our lives moves forward.
(1) Pray for continued healing for Joy. Her neuropathy continues in her feet and any decisions regarding future flying will be contingent on the healing.
(2) Pray for William and Cullen as they try to decide what to do this summer. Jobs are scarce and we don't know that working outside the home and returning everyday is a good idea while we live with Bill's parents.
(3) Pray for summer plans as far as finishing our furlough goals of visiting supporters and friends that are not in Chicago. We typically make a long trip and even had lined up dates with a few churches in July. Pray for God's will to be done about our plans.
(4) Pray for the Lord to have mercy on His world and to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Pray that these locked borders and quarantine orders will not affect our plans to return to Peru and/or that we be patient with God's timing.

One final note or thought: If our shelter in place continues further into the summer, we would like to hear from you if there is a time that you'd like to meet with us for a internet based missions report. This could be a Skype/Zoom/Google-Talk with any small groups, churches, or families that would like to hear more about our ministries in Peru. If we can figure out how to share a power point, we can call this a tele-furlough! In all seriousness, we would love to connect with you despite this time of social distancing.

In Christ,

Bill and Joy Carrera

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.

December Update

" Suddenly, its December. It has been a good furlough. It just seems like every furlough the days creep by until suddenly, it is time to return to the field. Yesterday, it was September, and we were dropping off the kids for the first day of school. Now, we have 7 days of school left before they say goodbye to their friends. We were reminded recently that our God is a God who hears prayers and answers them for his children. Last letter we smilingly asked for some snow so that our three kids could experience a few of the normal snow activities. That prayer was answered when more than 8 inches of snow was dumped on Chicago in the weekend before Thanksgiving. Camilla was so excited she was running, yelling, and rolling in it all. The boys (with their mom's help) built a snow man, and we even had a little snowball fight. God has also been faithful in giving us new support partners as well as increased support from other individuals and churches. We are still lacking about $250 a month, and Wycliffe would like us to get as close to 100% as possible before we return to Peru. That means there is still time for you to join our monthly support team. We hope you have a blessed Christmas season and a great start to another new year. Bill and Joy and family PS CHECK OUT OUR NEW BLOG: Carreraliving.blogspot.com   Prayer requests 1. For packing and last minute details.. 2. For a safe trip December 30. 3. For re-adaptation to Peruvian culture. 4. Good transition for the kids back to SAM Academy 5. That God would lead us to the right used 4 wheel drive vehicle.