The Hendersons ~ On a Journey 4 Him Weblog...

January 2010 Prayer Newsletter

Happy New Year from Lima, Peru!!

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Merry CHRISTmas from Lima, Peru!!!!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2: 8-14

We arrived in Lima, Peru, late Saturday night. Unexpectedly, when we arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica's airport, our early Sat. morning flight had been canceled. They put us on a 9 AM flight to Panama, but we now had a huge layover time before we could fly to Lima. God has a great way of working the bad out for good. Although our flight was delayed, we managed to get a great cut in cost of our luggage. We had 13 pieces, and our baggage cost $500 LESS than what we had calculated. They didn't say a word about our having 2 carry-on pieces instead of the 1 we were allowed to have. In addition, when we arrived in Panama, the airline paid our $60 lunch AND gave us a 4-hour tour of Panama in a chartered bus! Wow--God provided us a day of vacation! Although one trunk was missing, it mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. As we were going through customs, the man wanted to check our trunks (even though we got the "green/go" light. Without our limited Spanish, we pleaded our case--a long day of traveling with the kids and two trunks full of old toys for the kids!! Praise God; it worked! Then, we were greeted by the Holemans and Holders. They whisked our luggage and us away to their vehicles and we trekked across town to our apartment.

Thanks to those of you who support the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Our apartment is beautiful. It is creamy yellow with nice furnishings. We are located on the 2nd floor. We have a balcony that overlooks a playground. Our apartment complex is surrounded by a gate and guards. They actually WAX the sidewalks. A huge rocky mountain can be seen from our balcony. 

The last few days have been a whirl of activity. Sunday evening the Holema's showed us around town and they gave Brian an opportunity to practice driving our Lottie Moon Toyota HiLux (Tundra) in a town of 10+ million people. They spent hours with us giving us lots of tips and information, since they were heading to the States late Sun. night.

Monday morning, K. Holder rode with us (more practice for Brian's driving skills) across the huge city to our group's office. We had a meeting to attend, and later, we had lunch with the Holders and several others from our company. The entire rest of the day consisted of grocery shopping, shopping for some things we needed in our apartment, and Christmas shopping with money that our family had put into our account for the kids' Christmas presents.

Tuesday, were were whisked off by a hired driver in rush hour traffic back to the company office, where we met with others and went to Interpol to begin our resident visa process. Ada had our paperwork together perfectly, so the fingerprinting, photo-taking, and dental check didn't take but a few minutes. The ride took forever. All one can do while riding is pray. Lines are only a suggestion. Our driver, Victor, was an angel in disguise. As we stopped at traffic lights, he yelloed to the street kids and handed out toys!!  Sy. and Sk. stayed with their Aunt Amber (who we met at FPO in VA) while we were at Interpol. She treated them to an ice cream, and they enjoyed their stay with her immensely. By the time we made it back across town, the day was almost gone.  We began to put clothing and other items in designated places so the children could actually move around their rooms.

On Wednesday, Sk. and my stomachs felt a bit queasy, but we ventured out to buy a few more groceries and finished up the kids' Christmas shopping (with money that family had sent). It was WILD; everyone was Christmas shopping!! It seems like the more we put things away, the more we bring back into the apartment. I still need to put MY clothes away. Aunt Amy, a friend from FPO and coworker, called me from Ica, Peru, and we chatted a while. It was nice catching up.

The entire night was spent in the bathroom. Some call it the Peruvian stomach. I am not sure what it is, but I have not enjoyed it. Maybe it was the raw veggies that I ate from a take-out that Brian brought home. NOT FUN!  Today, instead of putting the rest of my clothes and things into place, I spent it on the couch resting or in the bathroom.  Again I say, NOT FUN! 

The kids chatted with family back home in MS via Vonage and Skype. Thank God He has provided us such things which make being away not as hard as it could be.

It's not always easy being away from family and friends. This is the first year EVER that we've been away from family for Thanksgiving, my birthday, and now CHRISTmas. Reread the Scripture from above, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Thank God for His peace. We know He called us and sent us. With that, we can rest in His peace.

May you focus  this season on CHRIST!  We thank all of you for your prayers, love, gifts, offerings, and encouragement throughout this year. May your CHRISTmas season be blessed beyond measure. We love and cherish each of you!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

PERU-BOUND

Hello, y'all!! :D

We've been busy. We finished up our classes on Dec. 10, while the kids did so on Dec. 11. More goodbyes....We graduated (or participated in it since we only had 1 trimester) on Dec. 11.  I celebrated my 36th birthday on Dec. 12.  I believe that I am only 25, though, or at least that is the way I feel on the inside. Packing.  Visiting and hanging out the last few days and weeks with close friends. Saying more goodbyes. That part is not easy. Packing.  Packing some more. 

Brian is turning in our modem and disconnecting our internet today. Although our neighbor is graciously loaning us his internet for 2 days, our signal will be weak, so don't hold great expectations from us. We will check our email and maybe post our statuses on Facebook the next 2 days. Our Vonage will be off.

The next time we blog, we will be in Lima, Peru.  The internet is supposed to be up and running when we arrive. I hope that stands to be true, or it may be a while before we get connected due to it being the CHRISTmas season.

Please keep us in your prayers. We have more packing (the tedious, do we really need to keep this or get rid of type of packing due to our weight limits).

Pray for good packing, safe travels, easy and peaceful goodbyes, and for our friends and family that we are leaving to go even further away.

We fly out at 6:55 AM on Saturday morning (same as MS time, you guys). We head to Panama, lay over for an hour, and then fly to Lima. We should be there around 1:30 PM (EST, which is 1 hour ahead of MS time).

Don't forget to pray about giving a generous  LOTTIE MOON CHRISTMAS offering this Sunday morning!  The majority of what you gives goes straight to us and other people like us that are literally around the globe!!

Love ya!  Thanks for your prayers!

Countdown Time

We are on the downhill slide. We have less than 2 weeks left. We are beginning to go through our things and sell or give away the items that we will not need in Peru. B. has been contacting and reading the limitations on luggage from COPA airlines. Unfortunately, it's different from our flight from the States to here. The 2 allowed bags that come "with" each ticket cannot be over 70 lbs.combined weight, unless you pay extra. Coming over, we got two bags each that were allowed 50 lbs. per bag. We are also having to carry our textbooks (ours and the kids') so we can show our tutors/teachers where we left off here when we arrive in Peru, so that we may continue our studies.

December in Costa Rica is full of fireworks, Christmas decorations and lights. The stores have stocked up on many toys and items for Christmas gifts, much like the States. One thing that is different here is that all employees receive what they call an aguinaldo for the month of December. It is their "bonus" for the year. Each employee receives an entire extra month's wages. For example, the men who are on the garbage truck stopped by yesterday to collect theirs. We do not pay a monthly garbage here. The truck roared to a halt, and they sounded like a parade as they blew their whistles, calling out for each household to come to the door. After you pay, they mark your gate with a sticker. If you do not pay, they will continue to come by until they have collected. We noticed our electric bill went up around $30, and the water bill increased around $6.  You must remember that our electricity consists of lights, refrigerator, stove, hot water heater (which we have on a timer), and other appliances. We have not air/heat, but the bill is close to what we paid back in the States. It's very interesting how the systems are alike, but yet different.

B. splurged and took me out for our "first" date since we've arrived from the States. My birthday is next weekend (I'll be another year younger), so he treated me to a movie that I've been longing to see. It's kind of funny, because I don't care too much for t.v. or re-watching movies, but I have watched Twilight several times. Finally, B. found it non-dubbed, in English, with Spanish subtitles. He secretly arranged for Sy.'s teacher to babysit the kids for us. She took them to a birthday party for two of Sy.'s classmates and to pizza later in the evening. While they had a great time with Courtney, we watched New Moon in leather recliners for $5.50 each, and popcorn and Coke for $4.00 (combined!), which was brought to us by a waiter. The night out was refreshing and much needed.

This week will be our final week of school. Although we've only completed one trimester of Spanish, we will graduate with other students on Friday.

I'm going to post some pictures from November that I promised you a few posts back. Enjoy!

Sy. dressed 70's style   "A Blast from the Past"     Sk. dressed as Al Capone

Emma, Joy, our Sydney, Ruthie, Eden, Sidney Z., & birthday girl Lottie

A Beautiful 50+ ft. Christmas Tree at the Multi-plaza del Este (mall)

 

Sk. & Sy. Sifting Through Goodies from 7 Hills Baptist Church

Putting the Finishing Touches on Our Lil CHRISTmas Tree

B. is Enjoying a "Snack" Before our Thanksgiving Feast with Friends

 

STUDENTS FROM OUR FINAL ESL CLASS

 

 

Sk./B.'s Father & Son Outing at Camp La Cumbre (they are top center)

 

Merry Christmas from the Kindergarten Class at Sojourn Academy

Check out the kindergarten class's wonderful Christmas program, all in Spanish, of course. If you listen closely, you'll hear Sy.'s voice ringing out. The lady in red, Ms. Victoria, is Sy.'s Tica teacher for the latter half of the day; she teaches the class solely in Spanish. As Sy. is going to her seat, you'll see Ms. Courtney, who is Sy.'s teacher for the first half of the day. She is from the U.S.A.

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANY OTHER VIDEOS BESIDES SYDNEY'S CHRISTMAS VIDEO IS NOT OURS!!!!  WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR OTHER VIDEOS AVAILABLE AFTER OURS IS FINISHED PLAYING!!

Thanks for Giving Your BEST to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering!