We left Huaral Wednesday evening at around 7:30 and made it home the next day at around 5:30 in the evening. We took a different route home than we had taken there—it is the route with the narrow tunnel carved through the mountain.
Everything went really well on the way home. Of the 22 hours home, I stopped for a break to sleep a couple of times, giving me about 2.5 hours of sleep; the cat naps were just the amount I needed to stay alert.
As soon as we got home, we cleaned out the van and got dressed for church, as we have prayer meeting on Thursday evenings. It was good to be with our little group here again though we missed seeing Percy’s.
Please pray for them. I talked with Percy yesterday about why they haven’t been attending as faithfully recently, and he said they are having quite a lot of trouble at home deciding to fully commit, so they just don’t come at all. I offered to do a Bible study with his family to help answer some of the questions they are wrestling with, and he said if he can convince the family, then he wants to do that.
Friday was a relaxing day of putting everything in order. We ran out of water, which meant I simply needed to pump water up from the well. Later, the pump was incapacitated, and we ran out of water again—lots of laundry to do!—but we got that figured out. The chest freezer had been hit by a surge in a lightning storm, burning up the motor and thawing all the food, so that made our day busier.
I went into market and found two young bulls to buy. I think there are fifteen cows now. The children were all happy to be back on the farm. Walter walked around, reminding everybody, “We’re home. We’re at our home!”
We greatly enjoyed our time in Huaral. It was refreshing for me spiritually and mentally; I hadn’t realized how much I needed that break. I gained a fresh perspective and was challenged again and again by many brothers there.
Without anyone bopping me over the head, I was able to see areas of selfishness in my life that I am planning to correct. As the one recently converted brother told me, “The believers here at Huaral are the first church I was ever in that everyone fought to be the one who served the most.” That is a testimony I aspire to have.
Interacting with the brethren there, I came away aching for a larger brotherhood—of course, made up of mature believers who always get along, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. No, I know every church has its struggles with humanity. We loved our church in Virginia and still look back on those years with great fondness, but even they (and we with them) had human natures to subdue.
That said, if you are a conservative Anabaptist family and feel like you’d like to help grow the church here in the Andes mountains of Peru, please send me a message, and I’ll get you in touch with the mission Board! They are actively looking for other families to join us.
Heartfelt thanks to the church at Huaral for hosting us: You were more than welcoming. And special thanks to Simon, Christine, and family: We are better for being your friends. ¡Qué Dios los bendiga!
Juan David 