Benji AKA Me

Hello again,

Since the last time I posted about half a year has passed. I don’t think I’ll be able to include everything that has happened but I would like to share some of the highlights with you all.

The beginning of the year was a little bumpy. We have had a number of flu like sicknesses go around and it even made us have to close down church services. We have now entered the dry season here and it seems like we are coming out of the flu season. The mornings and nights are fairly cold but the days are usually very nice. If you’re in the sun you can almost forget how cold it was when you left the house.

Like I had shared in the previous blog, China had gone to the states for a couple weeks in January and returned in February with her boyfriend Konrad. It was a very mixed feelings couple of weeks that they were around for. We loved having them here and we even got in some great game nights. But the whole time, looming in the back of our minds, we knew they were leaving in just a few short days and didn’t have any plans of returning for the foreseeable future. It was very hard to say goodbye to China. And we still haven’t decided if we’ve forgiven Konrad for stealing her away. Maybe with time… We are very thankful for Konrad’s help in bringing the new family up from Puno though. That helps with his browny points with us.

Jose, Rosita, Keren, and Kaila (the family from Puno) have been such a great addition to the church here. It has been so nice for Shawn and me to have another brother to bounce ideas off of. The move wasn’t very easy for them though. Leaving their family and friends was difficult especially after the newness of the move wore off. Thankfully they have been able to make it back and visit and I believe that has helped. Their family moving in to Izcuchaca felt and feels like it was lead by God. They moved in just in time for Rosita to open the school year teaching. (She’s a certified teacher here in Peru) Jose has some managing experience in some stores so his help has been invaluable in our newest endeavor.

For about a year we had been talking about opening a store for the church ladies to be able to have a safe work place and some of those plans started coming together in March. I will try to attach the newsletter from the store for those of you that are interested. The store made time and money tight for everyone but it has taken off well. We are excited about how the future may look for it.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:18f57b00-12d3-427f-b117-e37ef85fa035

Alicia was baptized into the church! We were so happy to receive her as a sister. She has such a great outlook on life and has been a challenge to us. She is a very hard worker. I think at her age I would be looking for ways to maybe relax a little but she will volunteer without a second thought for any kind of work. She has even started working with us at the store. It’s always refreshing to see new souls joining the church.

Shawn’s had some visitor friends the end of April. We were in a little bit of the sickness time of the year but I think for the most part the adults of the family that visited escaped unscathed.

Our baby girl was born May 8 at 12:05 in the afternoon. We had quite a stressful time up until the day of the birth. The doctors here really push C-sections and so any chance they got to tell us that there could be complications with a natural birth they would lay it on thick. A number of times it was even alluded that both Belinda and the baby were going to die in the birth if we didn’t have a C-section. The doctor was not the best pep-talker I’ve ever met. I was very thankful for the family members that I had on speed dial during all of the ordeal, especially my dad-in-law. With his medical knowledge he put many of our worries to rest. Belinda was very brave through the whole process and was able to have a natural birth with no complications, praise the Lord!

We were very thankful to have Joletta, Belinda’s sister, here with us over the birth too. She had arrived the week before the birth and we were able to go and get some sightseeing done. She was able to stay at our place with Ashlyn while we were in the hospital. Things would have been much more complicated and difficult without her here. I think it also helped Belinda relax more to have her RN sister around.

Just before Joletta left for the states our English teacher arrived from the states. Sarina is from Virginia and has a number of years of teaching experience. We are happy she agreed to teach the English classes. She seems to be catching on well to the language and is a very dedicated studier. I think it won’t be any time at all before she’ll be speaking fluently.

We purchased a car. It is a 1999 Suzuki. We spent quite a while looking for something for our family so that there could be another vehicle here at the church. With the new family moving in sometimes it can be a little tight on space. But we have had to make do because about a week after buying the vehicle it broke down. It has remained that way now for a few months. I was able to find some of the parts I needed on our visit to Lima but I still need a radiator. I have found a few places that can order one but it will cost about twice as much as Lima. We aren’t in Lima so I guess I’ll have to just order one in eventually. We are going to wait for a little and save up so we can get the parts we need to put everything how it should be. I am confident the Lord will provide. He always has.

We have been trying to do some projects around the place we rent as well. The most recent has been trying to make our breezy shower not so breezy. I was able to find some cheap wood to put on the sides and then I needed a floor of some sort. For the year we’ve lived there we have used two boards that spanned the drainage canal. I was able to get a small section of the floor put in and hope to finish the whole thing in the not too distant future. For now we would like to get the car back on the road and go from there.

God has been so good to us this past year. We are very thankful for all the friends and family that been able to visit and for the ones that can’t but still keep in contact. We don’t know what God has in store for the little church here in Izcuchaca but we will continue praying that His will is done. We would ask for your prayers for us here and also for more workers. At times we feel so stretched that we aren’t sure how we will meet all of our deadlines but somehow we’ve made it so far. Having more families here is heavy on our hearts and we are all praying that we would be able to enjoy the fellowship and insight of more believers. We wish you all the Lord’s blessing as you serve Him where he has called you.

D Caleb Schmidt

The time has come again for my “weekly” update so I’ll see if I can fit everything in that has happened since the last one.

The end of 2022 was very busy. We had a number of visitors from the States. Some of them were only around for a weekend and others were around for 2 weeks or so. A couple of them were my parents. They were able to come in for 2 weeks and it was so much fun having them around! I think they enjoyed themselves for the most part. The biggest thing for them to get used to ended up not being the altitude but the food. I had pretty well forgotten how different food here is from the States’ food. They were brave enough to try some of the Peruvian dishes. Sadly we weren’t able to get to a restaurant so they could try guinea pig but I think they were ok with that. We were sad to see them leave once their time was up here, but we had a little secret that they did not know.

I had bought tickets to the States before Dads had even visited. Our plans were to visit the States the end of November to the beginning January so we could take care of some things there and reenter Peru with a fresh visa and start our residency process over. (We have been fighting with our residency ever since we moved down. Hopefully we’ll be able to get it done this time round.) We weren’t able to keep our visit a surprise from everyone but my parents and Belinda’s Mom stayed in the dark the whole time.

I won’t put the video of our arrival on here so that I’m not disowned, but suffice it to say there were some very surprised people. It was fun to be able to fly in from so far away and just walk in on them.

We first went to Tennessee where my folks were and we were with them for Thanksgiving. We then traveled down to Georgia to where Belinda’s folks live the Sunday after Thanksgiving to surprise her family. My mother-in-law was happy to see us but I don’t think she was very impressed that we had lead her on for so many months saying we may not make it up to visit for another year. She forgave us for that though (I think).

Time in the States went by very quickly and we did quite a bit of traveling. We were in Tennessee twice, North Carolina once, and between Georgia and Florida a number of times. Belinda’s sister let us use her car any time we wanted it and so we got around without any issues. We’ll definitely try to keep her around for a while.

I was able to work with my dad again doing some construction work. I really enjoyed that. I miss that type of work sometimes and I have a lot of fun working with dad. We work good together when things are done how I think they should be. Lol 🙂 I was also able to do some semi driving again for the company I am partnered in with my in-laws. It was nice to be able to run with different people and see how the pros do it. On one of our runs there were 3 of us going up to Pennsylvania. (2 of my brother-in-laws and me) That was probably the most eventful trip I’ve ever been on. I forget now how many times we broke down on the way up but I believe it was around 5 or 6. It was just one thing after the other. But we were able to deliver the load and pick up another and get home safe and sound only a day later than we had planned.

The whole trip was filled with great times like that which made for never a dull moment. While we were there Shawn’s were back here in Peru dealing with all the curve balls life was throwing at them. The country was in an uproar. The president declared state of emergency, implemented curfew, and disbanded Congress. From what I gather he was taking steps to make Peru into a Communist country. Within hours of seizing control he was arrested and taken to jail. That did not sit well with rural Peru and they started to try to make their voices be heard through protests. If I understand correctly the president that was removed from office (President Castillo) was from lowly birth. He grew up in the mountain region of Peru and was the first president to bridge the gap between the high class and low class of Peru. So naturally the low class people were upset about his being removed. They began closing down roads and and inciting riots all the while blaming the “gringos” for polluting their government. I guess someone needed to be blamed, why not white people?

All of this made for an unsure arrival from the States back into Peru for us. We didn’t feel God had changed our calling yet so we decided to give it a shot and see how He worked everything out. So we were dropped off at the airport in Atlanta, GA the 5th to start our trip back home. Our first plane was delayed a number of times which caused us to get in late to Toronto, Canada and miss our flight to Lima, Peru. The next available flight was 24 hours later. The airlines gave us food vouchers and a free hotel and all considered took very good care of us. We were able to rest up and be back at the airport in plenty of time the next day.

Flights from then on went well but immigrations gave us a little bit of a hard time. The agent was not happy that we had over stayed our visa last year (even though I explained that we were trying to get our residency and it had been rejected a number of times) so she only gave us a 30 day visa. The process for getting the background checks we need was going to take 40-60 days. Just long enough that we would once again be illegal. We thought that maybe we could get the paperwork started and then apply for an extension, then I received an email saying that Belinda’s fingerprint card was rejected and we needed to submit a new one, in the US.

I’m honestly not sure yet how things will work out but it seems like we may have found another way to start the process and get the extension filed. All we can do now is trust that God will intervene and our paperwork will be accepted. We very much envy your prayers on this matter.

Rafael’s picked us up from the airport in Cusco and that’s when we learned that if we had indeed arrived when we had been scheduled to they would not have been able to pick us up. Due to the protests the roads were all closed and had opened back up the day we arrived. Praise the Lord! Our missed flight allowed a nice warm bed for our wait instead of a cold airport floor. It wasn’t very hard at all to be thankful for that missed flight in hindsight. But I should have trusted God more in the moment and been thankful then. “Live and learn”, as they say.

We arrived home from Cusco without any incidents and have been getting back into the swing of things since then. There are still protests with the roads opening up every few days so we are able to get into town and stock back up on groceries. We have heard rumors that this is the last week of protests and I am very much in favor of that. We will see what happens. Until it all smooths over we are happy where God has us and will continue to live out our testimony here in the community. They need peace that is unspeakable, and maybe this time of upheaval will open more opportunity for us to share where it is found.

We ask that you keep each of us in our prayer with the work here. Especially China. She is in the States for a short visit and is planning to return to gather her things, say her goodbyes (for now), and move back to the States. She has a lot of traveling and decisions awaiting, I’m positive she would ask to be remembered in prayer.

P.S. We are expecting a girl.

China and I have started a podcast. Here is the link to the site.

https://anchor.fm/daniel-schmidt56

Hope you enjoy. Let us know if you have any feedback or podcast ideas.

I’ve been saying since a couple weeks after the last post that I really need to post again. If it were the thought that counted than I would have written half a dozen posts by now. That isn’t the case but here is a little bit of an update.

We are in a pickle. Our residency paperwork was rejected and we were told by our lawyer that we have to leave Peru and re-enter after a few days to start the process over again. This would not be a huge issue if not for a couple things. One is, the flight will not be free. The airlines just refuse. And another is, the lawyer is not very certain of how long we need to be out. And possibly the biggest reason, we may be rejected on re-entry and have to stay out of the country for up to 6 months. Thankfully we have friends that have friends. One of our friends in southern Peru has a friend in immigrations. They were able to get some information, and it looks like our paperwork was rejected because of a outstanding fine. We had 15 days after the refusal to appeal the rejection, so we were able to pay the fine and resubmit the paperwork within those days. ( I say we, but Shawn is the unsung hero. He worked very hard on getting everything ready for resubmission.) Now we wait. If we are rejected the second time we will need to try a re-entry. We pray this isn’t the case because of all the risk involved. We shall see what God has in store for us.

We are making progress in Spanish. I haven’t been working at the hardware store for a bit now so I don’t get as much practice on a daily basis. But I work on Shawn’s farm and still get to, a couple times a day, have some Spanish conversations. Belinda has been trying to interact with the neighbors around our new place so she can practice her Spanish. She is braver than I am. She bakes and then goes from house to house and sees if there is someone interested in sharing some pastries and teaching some Spanish. In the last little bit her Spanish has made great improvements. We have both learned enough of the language that we can carry a conversation on our own, we think. I’m sure a native listening in would find great humor in our pronunciation and grammar, but it feels great to us.

The little church here has made some great steps. Esmeralda has decided to follow Christ and has been a challenge to each of us. She has dealt with a lot of resistance from the man she had been living with, especially regarding their youngest daughter. He has tried very hard to have her for Saturday and Sunday. We believe he is trying to keep her away from the teaching of the Bible as much as possible. Right after her initial decision to follow Christ, Esmeralda received a lot of pushback from her older children as well. It seems as though they have come to accept her decision now though. Hopefully it can be an example for them to follow. At first everyone in her family thought she had gone crazy because of the change they saw in her life. They even considered having her sent to an asylum. What a sad world we live in when a person deciding to follow Jesus is considered mentally ill. We pray that her family’s hearts would be opened to the truth before it is too late.

That pray is for the whole valley here. We continue to see interest when we go out to talk to people. But very few are willing to leave behind the things pulling them away from God. We have the promise in the Bible that if we do our part in carrying the Gospel, God will do His part of convicting and saving. So we will continue to share what God has done for us and what He can do for others.

Some of the mission board was able to come down a little while back and officially establish the church here. Shawn was ordained as pastor and the rest of us were taken in as the charter members of the church. It was a very great step to take. We want to be able to hold the excitement that we felt that day about the work here in our hearts every day.

We have all been taking turns being sick the last month or so. Percy’s had the monkey-pox and were out of church for a number of weeks. Shawn’s and we have had some stomach viruses. It seems like we are all fine and then someone gets another something. We’ve heard it’s just that time of year here, but hopefully we will be coming out of that soon. I think most of us are feeling pretty well back to normal now.

Shawn’s were out of water for…a very long time. I’m not even sure how many weeks or months it was. We started hauling water from the community where we live to Shawn’s but then we were told we weren’t allowed anymore. So we hauled out of another community about 10 minutes away. (The president of the community there is a friend of ours.) It was quite the task but we made do. Shawn decided to put in some wells at the farm. It was a bit costly but there was great success. Two wells were put in and they are both close to 30 meters deep. There is enough water and then some now.

The farm is doing well. I believe we have only lost one pig since we started raising them. We are hoping in a few months we will have another batch of piglets that we can sell. I purchased a young bull to butcher in 6 months or so. He seems to be fattening up well. We also have gotten some chickens and have been able to gather some eggs from them. We really enjoy being able to live off of our own farm a bit.

Ashlyn has been growing like a weed and is starting to try to talk in full sentences. It gives me a bit of an idea of how the native Spanish speakers must view my efforts at trying to carry a conversation with them. She really enjoys her video calls with the grandparents and is constantly asking to “do hello”. We really enjoy watching her interact with the animals. She has a great fascination with anything that flies. She tries very hard to make a friend with every person she can too. Hopefully she’ll be able to pick up on the Spanish language soon. We’ll have to make sure to do our part and talk it with her at home.

I believe that is all I have for now. Sorry there are no photos this time, but maybe I can include some on my next weekly update. hehe

Keep us in your prayers. Blessings to all.

I know it has been a while since my last post, but my story will be that it is by design. The longer I wait, the more there is to write about. Truth is, we have stayed fairly busy and I find it very easy for my time to be completely full. I’m writing now though, and that’s what counts.

We still aren’t fluent in Spanish. Our brains seemed to have pressed pause on the language download. But no worries, Shawn has been very patient and has a class a week with us to make sure we have some language exposure. We think he is teaching us Spanish but I’ll let you know for sure once I can understand what he is saying. I knew it would be a challenge to learn a new language, but I don’t think anyone can truly prepare themselves to the whole idea until they have tried it. It takes a lot of time with what feels like very little progress. Puts me right back to being two years old and trying to tell my family that I would like a piece of candy. I do not enjoy feeling 2 at my age. But it is necessary. Relying on others to do the communicating for you sure is humbling. Shawn’s very graciously have our backs in that way. Lately we have implemented a few rules to challenge us to speak what words we know. Chore time is strictly Spanish, along with at the table, all day Sunday, and any time there are native Peruvians around. It stretches our brain but is very enjoyable.

I have also been working at the hardware store with Rafael and Elizabet. That has been very good for my Spanish learning. I believe my lack of understanding has caused some irritated customers, but Rafael and Elizabet are both very patient with me. I only work at the store on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, which is plenty for now. If I tried to work there for a solid week I think my body would fall apart. I am still not completely adjusted to the elevation, although it is much easier to catch my breath.

Belinda and Ashlyn have been doing fairly well. There are days that Belinda finds it harder to catch her breath, but Ashlyn loves running around outside. The elevation doesn’t seem to affect Ashlyn very much at all.

We are all coming out of a round of Covid. Or that’s what we think it is. Different of our friends here were tested and were “positive”. So we are positive that we were “positive”. None of us seem to really be taking long to get over it though. That could be because we are vaccinated, or because we didn’t get it as badly. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

Brother Levi Martin and his son Philip are here right now. They came down the second week of this month and have been unable to fly home because of Philip testing “positive” for Covid. They are hoping to try again on Monday to get a “negative” test. It has been good to have some friends from the States here. We had hopes that a young single fellow (Byron) from the States would be arriving along with Levi and Philip, but it did not work out as hoped. We are still praying about the situation and hoping that Byron can still come down for a term.

Last weekend Brother Ernest Martin from Huaral, Peru visited here with his family. That was enjoyable, even though some of us were sick. We were able to have some great fellowship and a few volley-ball games.

We are going to start raising pigs. We are expecting our first batch of piglets around the 25th of April (happy birthday Hannah). The barn that is here is not quite what we wanted for raising pigs and so we are building a small addition. I say we, but Percy and Walter have done a lot of the work. Building here is very different than in the States, but it’s still fun. We are planning on having 6 sow pens and one boar pen. We will be using the old pig pen for weaning. I’m really looking forward to the whole experience.

We are in our rainy season here and so, even though it is summer, the rain keeps things cool. So far it has been just a few days of solid rain. Mostly we get showers every afternoon. It is a lot like being back in Florida, just without the heat. The animals don’t seem to mind the weather though, and they are doing well. The goats should start kidding in just a couple months. I believe there will be around 15 goats kidding close to the same time. That will be neat to have that many kids running around.

Farm life is a new life for me. I enjoy working with animals, but have not done much of it. It’s really great to be able to watch Shawn and his family and learn from them. Having to just go out and take care of animals on my own with my level of knowledge would be fatal for almost all the animals I would be taking care of. This way is much better.

Church services here have been going well. We have been able to have a few services with Percy and his family, and also a service at Fernando and Esmeralda’s. It’s great to have more people than just family in the services. Percy’s seem to enjoy meeting together with us, and so we are planning on meeting with them as often as possible for services.

I believe that is all for now. Sorry about how I jumped from topic to topic. That is how my mind works. I hope it gave you a little bit of insight on how are lives are going. Continue to pray for us and the ones we are working closely with here. We can sense that some of them are very close to the Kingdom. Also, our WhatsApp works great here. If you ever get the urge, feel free to call or text.

Until next time….

The last couple of weeks have been very full. I started working at Rafael and Elizabet’s hardware store on Thursdays. That was fun and very good for learning Spanish. At first we had to use our translator apps on our phones quite a bit, but it was slowly improving. Rafael’s are great friends and fun to be with but it seems as if they are growing a little more distant. Their family has said if they become Christians, they will not be part of the family anymore. This makes their decision to follow Christ much more difficult for them. Pray for them as they face these decisions and feel the call of the Holy Spirit.

We were able to visit some of the people Shawn’s had not seen since their furlough. Esmerelda welcomed us into their home, but we could sense some tension. Her and Fernando (the man she is living with) had been having some rough times and he had gone out drinking with his son. Esmerelda has showed interest in attending church but finds it hard to make time. Pray for them for their realization of living in sin as they are not married. Also pray that they will surrender their family and hearts to God.

We also visited Alicia. She was very glad to see Shawn’s again and they talked for a while. I would tell you what they talked about, but I’m not completely sure. She gave us some cheese and some fresh milk along with saying she will try to come to church sometime.

November 8 found us getting ready for our trip to Puno a day early. The people are not happy with the price of fuel (which I believe is more expensive than the States fuel) and so they decided to protest prices by throwing rocks and burning tires and things at cars that drove by. Because of that public transportation was shut down during the day. We were scheduled to leave Tuesday afternoon, via bus, to Puno for two weeks of Spanish classes. Percy (Shawn’s farm hand) advised us to travel at night since the protests would most likely not happen then, and he also said we should leave a day early. So we did. Shawn purchased tickets for China, Belinda, and myself and helped us board our bus and get on our way(Ashlyn didn’t need a ticket since she sat our lap). The bus left Cusco around 10:45 P.M. Monday night. The seats were surprisingly comfortable and I slept almost the whole 7 hour trip to Puno. (I may look into buying a bus because of the comfortable seats) Rafael Roca (one of our Spanish Teachers) picked us up at the bus station at 5:30 A.M Tuesday morning and took us to his parents place till our Airbnb would be available. The land lady let us in ahead of schedule and by 2:30 P.M. we were in our house. Rafael had gotten some groceries for us and so we were able to get settled in without any hassle.

On Wednesday we started classes. We have had classes every day so far except Sunday. Rafael and his sister, Marta, are our teachers, and they do a very good job! They are able to keep the classes fun yet packed full of info. We have started being able to pick out verb forms in everyday conversation and in the message on Sunday, so hopefully by the end of these two weeks we will be able to carry a conversation longer than 3 words.

Wednesday evening we went to church with Rafael and his family. They have a smaller group attending but they are a very sincere Christian group. They are practicing Anabaptist ways now for 5 years I believe. They are a very happy and peaceful people. And we also attended the service Sunday morning. Rafael had asked if I would share devotions and so I tripped through a devotions in Spanish. Hopefully they were able to understand a little of what I wanted to say.

We went to market on Saturday and Rafael had us buy supplies using Spanish. That was very enjoyable and gave us a feel for where we needed more work. It ended up being that we needed work in all areas.

We have also done a little site seeing. Puno, Peru borders Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable body of water. It also borders Bolivia. It is the largest lake in South America, and was central to the Inca empire. It has temple ruins underwater and their are also a number of ruins on land surrounding the territory. It has definitely been an enjoyable and info filled trip so far. We are looking forward to the time we have left here. Keep us in your prayers as we try to learn the language so we can share the Gospel.

We made it to Peru! I’m not even sure where to start on bringing everyone up to speed. It’s been so long since I last posted and so much has happened. I’ll do my best to add the details I remember.

The last week leading up to our travels was fairly hectic. Had it not been for family and friends pitching in to help, our hopes to travel would have been crushed. But as it was, we were able to get a lot done and all packed ready to go. We feel bad for the things that were left undone, though, that our family very kindly offered to deal with. But with my folks moving in to the place we were in, I can rest easy knowing everything will be taken care of.

We had a yard sale the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before we left, and were very happy with how it turned out. I ended up selling things I had know intention of selling. I was happy to let them take what they wanted though, just so I didn’t have to pack it away in storage. Even with all we sold we had a few tables full of odds and ends. We had thought we had someone interested in buying the whole lot once the sale had ended, but he decided he didn’t reallly need everything. Can’t say I blame him though. We obviously didn’t want it either, so I can’t fault him for not taking our junk. Some of our family said they would take the leftovers to a thrift store of some sort, and that was a big relief.

My Father-in-law selflessly offered to take care of my boat for me while I’m away. That made it possible for me to get a full nights sleep once again. Just knowing that it won’t just be sitting wasting away gives me great peace of mind. Thanks Dad! 🙂

The church group in Lake Butler had a celebratory meal, for us going away, after one Wednesday evening service. I say that only jokingly. They were all very supportive of our vision of the work here but different ones did try to convince us to change our minds. It is a blessing to have friends who wanted us to stay. But we still felt the pull to serve here in Peru and they decided it better not to hinder out departure. So we set out on Sunday, September 26, headed north.

Our first stop was Meigs, Goergia. We stopped in at Belinda’s folks place for some food, and coffee, of course. Sadly we weren’t able to stay very long and we all said our goodbyes. I am not one for long goodbyes and so I tried to get to the van ASAP so they wouldn’t see my tears. We miss them greatly, and our runs back and forth from Florida to Georgia.

From there we kept going north to Tennessee. We stayed in Crossville for a couple days while we guys changed out some garage doors for my a couple of my brothers. It was fun to be with them and work with them a bit before leaving. We had some great evenings sitting around singing and laughing. Sometimes we did both of those things at the same time. But as all good things do, it came to an end and we said goodbye to the family there too.

We made it to Virginia, where Shawn’s were awaiting our arrival, Wednesday afternoon. We had a little time to just sit and do nothing before our doctor’s appointment for our Covid test. After letting the doctor dig in our noses, we went to David’s house, where we stayed both nights we were in Virginia. (David Carr is family. He is not blood related, but we always refer to him as our brother. His children even call my folks Grandpa and Grandma.) It was fun, as always, to be with them again. Distance has kept us from being able to be together as much as we used to be.

Thursday we met up with Shawn’s at Andrew Crider’s house to weigh luggage and sort through things. We all felt that went fairly well until we realized that we were over our allowed bag limit. That evening we got some bigger suitcases so we could consolidate a few bags. Friday morning we, with the help of Shawns’, sorted through our bags once again. We ended up having to send the kitchen sink back with my folks. Apparently it wasn’t as needed as we thought. We actually did end up with a full tote and some loose items that were taken back home.At least we can’t be blamed for going under-packed.

Friday afternoon found us eating our last Taco Bell meal while driving down the express way toward Dulles airport. (There is only one Taco Bell in Peru that we know of, and it is around 30 or more hours away. Our family is very fond of Taco Bell.) At the airport we unloaded our 30 bags under the wide eyed gaze of onlookers. We then said goodbye to my parents and Sarah. They took off the whole week so they could drive us to the airport and then take our van, and extra luggage, back to Florida. Once again it was another tearful farewell as they drove away. We then checked our luggage in at a Kiosk with the help of a couple attendants. And then it was time to wait. A couple of our tickets were messed up but Shawn was able to get that taken care of fairly easily. Thank goodness Shawn was there! He was our hero the whole trip, making sure everthing went smoothly.

Our flights were from D.C. to Miami, Miami to Lima, and Lima to Cusco. We had some time at each location, but the least amount of time was in Lima, where we needed the most time. We only had a two hour layover there and we had to go through Migraciones, collect all our luggage, check in again and then board our flight in time. There were 6 adults and 8 children in tow. Just as we got in line at Migraciones they decided it was a good time to update their computers. Our legs did not approve of this cruel and unusual punishment of standing for hours, but we survived. We missed our flight, which came as a relief. It meant we could relax for a bit. Thankfullly we were able to get a flight for later that evening and we landed in Cusco around 10.00 p.m.

Rafael, Elisabet, and Percy met us at the airport in Shawn’s pickup and Rafael’s big truck. We toted all our luggage up a long hill while trying to figure out where they were storing their oxygen here. They deffinitely don’t keep it outside. Maybe that would be too wasteful. Once we were all loaded we started the ride home.

The traffic here is very different from the States. They paint lines on the road and install the same signal lights on cars as back home, but I believe it is only for looks. They completely ignore lines, the use of turn signals, traffic lights, and pedestrians. They do however have an entire language with their car horns. I havn’t learned what it all means yet, but if I hear a horn I just wait for the car (or bus) to zip around us while nearly colliding with oncoming traffic. Somehow, when I open my eyes, all the vehicles are still intact. Every car passing is a reminder of the parting of the Red Sea. Traffic just seems to make a space for passing cars on an already narrow road. It can be quite nerve racking but intruiging.

Rafael drove the truck I rode from the airport in. He managed to keep a conversation going while dodging dogs, cars, and most of the people. They have quite the assortment of streetside markets and they have decided the best way to advertise their goods is to run at the vehicles while madly waving a flag, of sorts. You just have to ignore them and pray you don’t feel a bump as you go by. And Rafael is a master at this, and so we made it to our abode safe and mostly sound.

That brings us almost up to date. The time between arriving and now has been filled with town trips and market and panting for breath, and then town again and yet more panting. Our trip back to Cusco was probaly a highlight. That’s when we were able to get our SIM cards, refrigerator, and so much food! China and I still don’t have the best grasp of the language but we decided we wanted to look around the mall while Shawn took care of our phone cards. That’s when things got even more interesting. The store we chose was on the second story and had a couple guards standing there making sure you were double masked and had a face shield. But when we tried to enter they stopped us and said some things that I nicely smiled to and told them thank you. Even after I was nice they wouldn’t let us in. They kept pointing at a sign that said “solo salida” and that’s when it hit me that the cappacity was probably at it’s limit. So we went and stood by the railing to await our turn. We patiently waited while more and more people filed out, but we never got the ok to enter the store. Finally they had all they could take and a guard came and escorted us out of the mall. I was throughly convinced that he was going to take us outside and try to get a bribe out of us to let us back in. I tried to tell him that we have people in the store still but he didn’t seem fazed. He just led the way down some erie halls and showed us to the elevator, telling us to go down. We did as we were instructed, I think, and re-entered the mall on the first floor. That’s when we realized that the entrace to the store we wanted was on the first floor and “solo salida” means exit only. We just stood and stared nicely at the guards and random people exiting the store for 10 minutes or so. We ended up not having two face masks or the courage to face the exit guards so we just went back up to the second floor, doing our best to avoid being seen by the same men again, and sat outside of where Shawn was. We were more than content to wait till he was done before exploring again. Most of the rest of the day went fairly well apart from me telling the lady at the KFC that she didn’t understand instead of “I don’t understand”. She didn’t appreciate that very much and snatched the sauces for my food and held them up in emphatically. I got the point. Now I allow Shawn to do the talking and I just stand there like a mute. But even that doesn’t seem to please them. They still will talk about how they can only talk to the one man, “the others just stand there” they say. I just can’t win.

Most everything has been going smoothly. We lost water for a couple days, but it returned then. Now it seems we are out again. We wonder if it may be a leaky toilet draining our tank. Lord willing we will locate the perpetrator soon.

All in all it has been great fun so far. We are very much looking forward to the upcoming years and the many mistakes I’m sure will come.Thanks to each of you for your prayers and support.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

As I suspected in my first post, I have not had the time to do any blogging. But I have now returned.

The past couple of weeks have been very busy. The biggest issue with this is that time seems to have traveled much faster. Normally I don’t mind this but, when time is closing in on the move to Peru, it can make one’s heart palpitate. All of the time spent with family has been very refreshing though. We were able to have a Schmidt family reunion Saturday, August 14. It was great to see all the friends and family that showed up! Quite a number of people dropped by to show their support of Shawn’s family and the work that they have been doing in Peru. Seeing the support makes the move for my tiny family a little less difficult. Too often we forget the backing that we will have through prayer from those in the States.

Tuesday, August 17, Shawn and I met with the GCM board to discuss a number of topics pertaining to the mission work in Peru. As usual, my excitment was rekindled just by talking about all the potential that is there and the many ways God has been working. Shawn shared a number of things that came to his mind of situations where no one but God can take credit for the workings of. It’s very revitalizing to hear of God’s hand at work in so many ways.

I’ve heard different people say that going on the mission field can sometimes change oneself more than the natives. I don’t have the experience to confirm this yet, but I can already see a slight change in myself and my outlook on life. The planned move has had my wife and me looking at our lives a lot more closely than before. Is our prayer life strong enough? Are we mature enough in Christ to share His gopsel? Will we be strong enough to not bend to the pressures of other religions and other’s ideas? The list could go on. But in a lot of the questions a pattern is seen emerging. And that is, a self centric worry system. I think that self examination is great, but I find myself thinking more that if I am inadequate for the job, God is unable to work. And that is not the case. We serve a great God. Our weaknesses can show His strength if we allow ourselves to be His vessels. So many lessons to learn in life!

Packing has been hit and miss at our place. The majority of time so far has been more miss than hit. Our schedule has not really given us the time to get much accomplished, but we still spend a lot of time planning how we will go about everything once we have an opening. Yard sales are in the making, storage has been arranged, and plans for the house have been decided. Slow but steady progress is being made. At this point we are planning to try to travel to Peru the end of Septmeber.

We have found a Spanish teacher! Mrs. Fernanda Crim from Iglesia Cristiana Misionera Bautista in Lake Butler, FL has agreed to give us a crash course. We are hoping to get 2 classes in a week. It seems barely worth starting classes at this point, but I’m positive it can’t hurt. We are super excited that we will get some practice in before we go.

Keep us in your prayers as we face all the situations and decisions ahead of us.

I am no expert typist, narrator, author, or really anything. Regardless of those inevitably obvious facts I intend on trying my hand ( or, more accurately, fingers ) at blogging. I’m sure there will be plenty of typos and errors. Feel free to automatically assume I meant for them to happen, for your enjoyment and to make sure you are still paying attention.

I don’t exactly know how or where to start so,I guess I will start at the beginning.

“We are planning on going to Peru!” These are the words we shared with our family a few months back. We being my wife (Belinda), my 1 year old daughter (Ashlyn), and myself (Caleb). This was met with various reactions and mixed feelings. Our friends said “We’ll miss you, we think. But there’s only one way to find out”. Our moms said “It’s probably not God’s will.”, our dads said “If you must.”, and our siblings…well they said what all siblings would say, “How long will you be gone?”. We did our best to ignore the joy in the siblings eyes while trying to reason with, console, and convince our parents. The majority of that I mean in jest, but I’ll let you decide what is or isn’t. In all honesty, I am very thankful for the support our families and friends have shown.

Living in a South American country has been on my wife’s and my bucket list for years and now we have an opportunity. I currently have a brother (Shawn) and his family, along with a single sister (China) living in Peru where we will be living. It is a huge relief to know that we will be with family while going through the process of learning a new language and culture. Though I’m sure they will laugh at our clumsy endeavours at adjusting as much or more than the locals. Regardless, my wife and I are very excited about the whole thing.

Shawn and his family have been living in Peru for around 2 years. They have a small but growing farm that they stay busy with along with the mission work that is very close to their hearts. The mission there is relatively young and at times, I’m sure, seems like there has been very little progress to them. But Shawn’s continue to share God’s love and gift of salvation to the ones there, knowing that God works in mysterious ways. The interest that has been shown from the locals is very exciting! And if one soul is led to Christ, it will be worth it all.

Our plans for going down are very jumbled at this point. We are aiming for this fall, possibly the end of September. The whole moving prospect has been quite daunting at times. It’s very likely it will be the end of October or November before we have all our ducks in a row and are ready to hop on a plane. There are so many things to pray about, decide on, talk about, get rid of, etc. If it ever crosses your mind, whisper a prayer for us. I’m sure Shawn’s would very much appreciate your prayers as well.

I make no promises on prompt or frequent posts. I am not very good at just sitting down and puting my thought to words. Also we will be very busy getting ready for the move. I will try to some extent to keep everyone updated on our progess. We are currently waiting on Ashlyn’s passport. I also have some paperwork to do regarding a POA here in the states. We will also be deciding what action to take with our house sometime this month.

Shawn has a blog of his own. He does very good about posting and keeping everyone in the loop. juandavidschmidt.com