CARNETS
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Great news we received our carnets!! A carnet is a long-term residency card that allows us to live here without needing a tourist or student visa. We excited about this because it was processed with barely a month left on our student visas. We are not sure of all the benefits related to having a carnet yet but we know we are able to open a bank account, get more than a prepaid cell phone plan and even be able to get better prices on local traveling. While all these things are good, the most important part is it shows other people that we live here and we want to be here. This is important for the people to see that we enjoy being in their country.
EL MUNDIAL
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The World Cup is in full swing with group play ending and the round of 16 starting soon. This is my (Jaime) 3rd World Cup to experience. Before 2010, I don’t think I knew what the World Cup was. You might ask yourself why in 2010 did you find out the World cup existed? Because that was the year that Heather and I started dating. I figured since I was dating a girl who loved soccer I should probably know a little about the biggest soccer tournament in the world. During the 2014 World Cup, after being married for two years, we had the incredible opportunity to be in Brazil which was the hosting country for the tournament. For the first two years of our marriage, I wasn’t the biggest fan of soccer for various reasons. When I was in Brazil, there were so many different countries in one place with the same desire of seeing their team win. The feeling became infectious. I’ll never forget being at a viewing party watching England and Uruguay play and the excitement all around us. I thought, “hmm soccer is alright”. Now we are in Peru, wherein a dramatic turn of events, Peru’s national team qualified after a 36-year dry spell. Needless to say, the World Cup is everywhere. On every commercial, every Billboard, every candy wrapper, it’s absolutely everywhere. Peru was not favored to do very well, but win or lose the country is actually united on something. When Peru plays it's amazing to see people painting their faces, wearing their jerseys and even putting jerseys on their dogs. While watching the games, I catch myself getting caught up in the emotions of the event: happy, sad, mad, annoyed. In the end, I get a little sad that a countries identity is caught up in how well they kick a ball back and forth. Their hope is in whether their team plays well when it should be in something more eternal. Soccer is a great tool for the gospel. Playing and talking about soccer opens a lot of doors in the hearts of Latin Americans. We hope and pray that as our language improves we will be able to utilize this conversation opener to communicate the hope in Jesus that we have. Even if Peru doesn’t do very well in the World Cup, through Jesus, people in Peru will find something to believe in that won’t let them down.
PRAYER
Please continue to pray for our language learning. We are hitting a wall and learning is just not coming as easy. We have been studying for almost six months and even though we know a lot, we still feel like we need more time to study. We will be staying in language school until October when we will leave Arequipa and join the rest of our team in Ayacucho. Also please continue to pray for the team in Ayacucho, they are working hard building relationships and foundation for the church plant happening there. We are excited to join them and be apart of the things that God is doing in Ayacucho.
Other Prayer Request:
-Daniel (Jaime's brother) is in the hospital due to complications from his epilepsy. Prayer for healing and wisdom from the medical staff
-It is possible we will be traveling to Ayacucho during our break at the end of July to help with a medical team from the USA. Prayers for safety during travel, good conversations with our team, and that the Lord will continue to lay on our hearts what He is calling us to do in the city of Ayacucho.
Please continue to pray for our language learning. We are hitting a wall and learning is just not coming as easy. We have been studying for almost six months and even though we know a lot, we still feel like we need more time to study. We will be staying in language school until October when we will leave Arequipa and join the rest of our team in Ayacucho. Also please continue to pray for the team in Ayacucho, they are working hard building relationships and foundation for the church plant happening there. We are excited to join them and be apart of the things that God is doing in Ayacucho.
Other Prayer Request:
-Daniel (Jaime's brother) is in the hospital due to complications from his epilepsy. Prayer for healing and wisdom from the medical staff
-It is possible we will be traveling to Ayacucho during our break at the end of July to help with a medical team from the USA. Prayers for safety during travel, good conversations with our team, and that the Lord will continue to lay on our hearts what He is calling us to do in the city of Ayacucho.