For He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Psalm 91 11-12

This was a very timely scripture that the Lord spoke to my heart earlier this week. Over the past couple of days we have heard of many who have fallen victim to robberies. I do not want to scare you so I will spare you all of the details but two of the incidents dealt with taxi's, another with a ploy for help and the last we just heard of yesterday. An orphanage that is located in a very beautiful portion of Lima set away from the city, was broken into. The orphanage was near completion and the family who will oversee it was set to move in within the next two weeks. We do not know many of the details except that $8000 in goods were taken. We have been supporting this ministry and were excited that the home was just about ready to receive children. It saddens our hearts to hear of their loss but we know that God works EVRYTHING to the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.
(To learn more about this ministry and how you can support it by purchasing delicious Peruvian coffee shipped directly to your home, click here: http://www.calvarychapellima.com/index.php click on the Orphanage tab)

With all that having been said, today was my first day of Spanish classes and I did just fine on the buses or should I say micros. I suppose I should give you a lesson on some of the terms that I will be using here to help you get a better understanding of things. A micro or a combi (I'm not sure if there is a difference yet) is a bus like van. They are often times packed like a can of sardines and they drive like there is no tomorrow. They are EVERYWHERE here, I think there are more of them than cars. Anyway, they are all sorts of colors with names of places they service painted on the sides. There is usually a man, sometimes a woman who works the door. They open it as they approach you, hollering out their projected itinerary and then they scoop you up. If you don't move fast enough you will most definitely trip or fall trying to get on as the van will have already started moving. It takes some getting used to but the first couple of times Eddy and I did it with the kids and two strollers so this seemed like a piece of cake today. Praise the Lord I even figured out which bus to get on. The best part is that for the half an hour bus ride to school it only costs around forty-three cents, sometimes less (church is just one sole... about thirty-four cents). Now you can understand why they are the primary mode of transportation. One of these days I am going to post a video for you with these things zooming all around honking and beeping but until then keep imagining. Oh, and another thought... there seems to be NO LIMIT to the amount of people they will cram onto one of these. If you need to get on, they make room. The safety standards here are unheard of, I Could go on and on with the things that I have seen that would make you gasp... I'm learning to stop gawking in disbelief and just chuckle... this is Peru.

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS (Happy Birthday) JESUSA

Singing Happy Birthday

Eddy's brother Kike, Yessica, Carlita, Eddy's other brother Oscar and his wife Patty

Well this past weekend (Sept. 27-28) we had a few things going on. Friday evening we celebrated the birthday of Eddy's sister Jesusa (Feliz Cumpleanos is how you say it in Spanish) with a family gathering late into the night. Then Saturday we left to visit Eddy's brothers beach house about an hour south of Lima. On the way there we stopped to have lunch. The place was very nice and even had animals located in the back. After discussing how cute they all were I wondered if they would be on the menu. Sure enough, there was rabbit, duck or guina pig (a typical plate in some parts of peru) listed for our dining pleasure. We opted for the duck and a few other traditional plates which I have taken pictures of to show you. I think this is one of the ways to bring you closer to us is to share the everyday things like this.

The outside of the restaurant

The llama of Peru

The bunnies

The bunnies on the menu (conejo)

The inside of the restaurant

Inka Kola - Eddy's favorite

Bistek a lo pobre

Tacu Tacu

Arroz con Pato (Rice with Duck)

Hadassah outside the restaurant

Hadassah playing on the playground at the restaurant

Hadassah helping her Tia (Aunt) Patty sweep at the beach house

This past Sunday we went to this beautiful park here in Surco. The park is near to the church so we walked there with a handful of other Moms and let the kids play It is almost like a small theme park. Here are some pictures of the park and kids enjoying themselves.

A real train that you can ride throughout the park... we have yet to do it though

A pond with paddle boats and a view of Surco in the background

A fun bridge that shakes when you jump on it

Ana with Hadassah & Josiah

Josiah looking on as the girls play

Ayumi monkeying around

Priscilla & Hadassah

Ayumi & Joshua greeting Barney

This train is bound for glory.... the kids from church

Josiah having a good time with Dad

Since I began this update in the early portion of the week I have already forgotten many of the things I was intending to post but not to worry there is always more to share. Eddy is away today (Saturday October 4th) in Santa Rosa de Villa preparing the church there for a medical clinic that will be set up for this coming Thursday and Friday. This is the place where Eddy will be teaching on Sundays for the next couple of weeks while Pastor Brian is away. He is also going to have a chance to teach on a Thursday night for the mid-week study in our home fellowship. These are all things you can be in prayer for. That he would sense the Lord's direction concerning the books or topics that he should teach on. Please also pray for the Thursday night teaching as he has invited many of his family members.

This past Thursday Hadassah started her first day of Nido. A nido is something like a preschool but they start very young here. We were praying about this as it was not something we had planned on doing but it seems as though the Lord has opened the doors and given us a peace about it. Our primary goal in placing her here is to allow her to learn Spanish. They do all sorts of fun projects to teach them different things like their colors, numbers, dancing, singing and a variety of other things. Daddy has went with her for the first couple of hours each day and she has really seemed to enjoy it, it is a lot of fun for her. She also likes the fact that she gets to go to school just like Mommy... I think this has helped her in adjusting to the idea.

Hadassah's first day of school

I took these pictures yesterday as I ventured out on my own with the kids. This is a park right next to the house. There are parks everywhere here but Hadassah is missing the playgrounds. She does enjoy picking the flowers though!

This one is for you Ma!!

Well it is now Sunday, October 5th and I think this post is just about ready as I'm sure Eddy will have a lot to share when he gets home from Santa Rosa de Villa. I was unable to go today as we had planned because Hadassah has developed a fairly strong cold. Eddy is going to be very busy this week making trips to Santa Rosa in preparation for the upcoming clinic. They are expecting hundreds of people and they have a lot of cleaning and building to do before Thursday. I do not know all the details but I will share them with you as I get them. This sounds like a great opportunity to serve the community there while sharing the gospel with them. On that note I will jump to our prayer requests:

• For healing as Hadassah and I have colds and Josiah's face is breaking out again for round # 5. It seems like Eddy may be getting the cold too and he really needs his strength for the upcoming week. I also need to regain my strength as the days are very long without Eddy here to help.


• Pray for the medical mission this Thursday and Friday in Santa Rosa de Villa. Pray that we would not just administer to their physical needs but more importantly their spiritual needs. This is a very poor area (they have not even received running water yet in this town) and there is a lot of addictions associated with the poverty.


• Continued prayer for our safety on the buses and in taxis.


• Discernment as to the length of our stay and our placement in the various ministries here.


• We also ask that you continue to pray for our strength to endure through the fiery trials and the attacks of the enemy.

PRAISES

• The Lord has been so very gracious to us in so many ways. With the blessing of this beautiful apartment, our six month visas, the help of Eddy's family in getting us settled and just the overall peace we have felt through the transition. We have sensed for awhile that this apartment is where we should be and this week another confirmation came to this. The owner of the apartment highly recommended the nido that Hadassah is now attending and so after looking at another we checked it out. I immediately felt a peace about this place once I had a short tour but the price was much higher than the other and there were many other related fees. Since we are on a very limited income we didn't feel we could afford the cost and Eddy shared this with the owner of the nido. She happens to be good friends with the owner of our apartment and she asked us what we were looking to pay and why. She checked with her sister and gave us the lower end of the range we offered. She also waived the registration fee!!!


• For His divine protection. We have been here for almost four weeks now (Wednesday) and He has kept us in our travels as well as in our home. We know that just because we are Christians does not mean that we will never experience hard times but that nothing happens without His consent. We are aware that at some point we may experience some of the small tribulations that others have had to go through as a result of their residing in Peru but we have a peace about it, He has not given us a spirit of fear. Thank you Jesus!


• With Eddy needing to be away in preparation for the medical clinic we ran into a problem as to who would watch the kids while I am in class or would I have to just miss the majority of this week? Thank the Lord He placed it on the heart of a woman from church to come and help us out on the days Eddy needs to be away.

Hadassah's Lambie broke last week (oh no!!) but luckily Uncle Kike was able to mend him (this is Hadassah's praise report)

CHAU (Good-bye) FOR NOW

The Long Awaited Update

Since I am not sure where everyone is at and what you may have already read or heard, I will start from the begining. Our flights were great and we were actually on time without having to do any running. The kids were very well behaved which made the flights (3 of them) much more comfortable. We also had at least a third of the plane empty on the flight from Miami to Lima so we had some room to stretch out a bit. While we were disembarking the plane we realized they has broken our double stroller, the wheel was broken right off! We were a bit disapointed about this as we were depending on it a great deal but there are a few praises to report. For one, we were granted a six month visa. Pastor Brian says we are the first people he has known in ten years here to be granted this length of time (it is usually three months ). This is a blessing because it will save us hundreds of dollars in visa renewal fees. Secondly we got the "red" light while passing through customs. The way this system works is that you walk up to this button and push it, if it turns green you can go without them checking your bags. In the event that it turns red they search your bags and can tax you on different items that you have brought in. Since we brought in many items for family here we were somewhat worried about this. Praise be to God, they just sent our bags (not even all of them) through the x-ray machine and let us go, not one was opened!!

Our room in the church

Pastor Brian, Lucho and Denise met us in the airport. We returned to the church were we stayed for one week. This was a great starting point for us and helped us gradually move into our new apartment. We were blessed with a wonderful place from some friends of ours in the States but we had a lot of purchasing to do before we could move in. Apartments here come with absolutely nothing... not even light bulbs but we were fortunate in this case. There were a few pieces of furniture here and some dishes. We had to buy the appliances and mattresses as well as a bed frame and assorted items for the kitchen. Eddy's family helped us out a great deal with the cleaning and all the running aorund we have had to do. His brother Oscar is going to lend us some furnature and between him and His other brother Kike we now have pretty much everything we need to live here. His brother Kike also graciously offered to cook for us everyday until we get settled in, this is an absolute blessing!!

The kids trying out the new mattresses.

Our building is the yellow one... the second floor (the one with the window open).

We are blessed that the owner is allowing us to use the above furniture.

The kitchen

Eddy's brother Kike preparing Lomo Saltado

Lomo Saltado.. muy ricco!!

We have settled into somewhat of a daily routine now. Every morning Eddy wakes up at 4 AM to walk to church for the mens morning prayer meeting. Starting next Tuesday I will be attending Spanish classes Monday through Friday directly after Eddy returns home. I have to take a bus for about a half an hour and then I will study for another hour and a half. After I return we will have lunch (here the main meal is lunch with just tea and a light snack later on) and then have a few hours for whatever needs to be taken care of. Monday nights Eddy is part of a discipleship class that Pastor Brian leads for some of the men in the church. This is exciting as it has been on Eddy's heart for awhile now to be able to be discipled in this way. On Tuesday evenings Eddy attends the weekly prayer meeting at the church and then on Thursday nights he joins the rest of the fellowship for the mid-week bible study. Last week he served with a team that went to minister in a very poor neighborhood about an hour or so from Lima (it is called Santa Rosa). He will continue to go here on Sunday afternoons while Pastor Brian and his family are away in the States. He will also get his first opportunity to teach the bible study to the small group of believers there. He said there are many children, sometimes as many as 40 and eight or so adults. Please be in prayer as to where the Lord would have us to serve on a permanant basis. Eddy was touched on his visit there and so I hope to join him on the next trip. The kids will have to stay behind with Betty, Brian's wife as the van the church takes is filled to capacity. Pray that they will adjust to having a sitter here, I think they will be fine as they already enjoy her company on Sunday mornings.

Family gathering... we seem to have a lot of these!

Yet another family get-together.

This past Tuesday I was able to attend the ladies prayer meeting (my only chance since the Spanish classes will be held during this time) and was blessed to stay after with them for a time of fellowship. Every week after prayer they make a candy called Chocotejas which are chocolates with pecans and carmel or other fillings. They then sell them for one sole (about 33 cents) each to raise money for church mission trips. We are really excited about this church's heart for missions. There are many other outreach opportunities that I have not mentioned. On Saturdays a group of believers head out to a few poor villiages to share the gospel as well as do dramas. In the future this is something that both Eddy and I would like to take part in. They have outreaches in places called Canete (there is actually a church there now) and Ica (where the earthquake hit last year). These both are places that Eddy would like to visit as we discern just where the Lord would have us. Eddy has also been working in the church doing some organizing and repairing. For those of you who know him, this is one of his areas of expertise and it just so happens that they needed somebody like this.

Pilar heating up the chocolate for the Chocotajes.

Chipe, Angie and Pilar filling the molds with chocolate.

The art of Chocotejas.

One other thing that I am excitied about. I will be helping Denise (a missionary from Boston) to teach an English class at the church on Wednesday nights. They are doing this as a form of outreach. Pray for students and that the Lord would bring those whom He is already drawing close to.

Last but not least... Josiah is crawling. Here he is escaping from the bedroom!

There is so much to tell but time never permits me to do so. I want to post this as I know you all are anxious to hear what is happening. I'll also list here a couple of prayer requests:

• For the complete healing of Josiah. The infection (if this is even what it is) almost cleared and then returned again, now for the fourth time. I'm noticing more spots on his face so I think we will need to take him to the doctor. We have yet to even think about insurance, but doctors are not as expensive here. Please pray the Lord would give the docotor wisdom.
• Continue to pray for God's guidance here. There are so many opportunities to serve and we want to make sure that we apply ourselves in the areas where He would have us.
• Continue to pray for His peace as we settle into this new culture. Praise the Lord we are all doing great but we know that it is on account of YOUR prayers!
• Protection from sickness and traffic. Yes traffic. I've almost been hit already and the day we arrived we met another Peruvian missionary who had been hit by a motorcycle the day before. There is no "yield to the pedestrain" here. If you are in their way... your fair game... at least that is what I've witnessed so far. I think it is even worse while riding in the car, but we are getting used to it. Also, Eddy has been driving here as he is one of only four people who can drive in the church. Everyone here takes public transportation and that will include me soon as well. This is a great place for those interested in snatching your belongings, to do so. This is an area that you can pray for protection in.
• Our witness to Eddy's family. We see them quite often and they have many questions and also many forms of advice... some of what are conflicting with the way we have choosen to lives. May the Lord guide our conversations!
  

Thank you all so much for praying for us and staying in touch. We miss you all but at the same time we are enjoying the life the lord has for us here.

GLORIA A DIOS - GLORY BE TO GOD

Getting Settled In

Muchas Holas to everyone... I don't know if that is something that is even said in Spanish but it sounds good to me! Well, we are finally online here and just wanted to post quickly. As soon as time permits I will write you a nice long update with pictures and all. I want to leave you with our new address and phone number but I guess it would be better if I sent that out individually to those of you who are interested (we don't want any internet stalkers!)

Please, if you would like to receive our newsletter send us an email at koplinfamilia@gmail.com and let us know. Use this address for all communication here with us and if you would like our address or phone #. You can send us small items if you like but should check with us first as some things are taxed so heavily it is not worth paying to get them out of customs. Letters and pictures should be fine.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you...

...for you all have blessed us beyond measure. We are so thankful for each and everyone of you who have supported us and helped to enable us on this journey. We appreciate those of you who have extended your hands to us in so many different ways as we have prepared to go. Those of you who have committed to becoming partners in prayer for us and those of you who worked so hard to organize a wonderful "last supper" for us.

We love this... we think you should leave it up!!

One of the scriptures the Lord spoke to Eddy's heart.

Jackie... our Prayer Warrior!

Thank you guys so much for coming out to support us...

We are so very thankful to our Shepherd for guiding us into fellowship with this beautiful flock.... sniff, sniff... We have to say that over the past year or so we have become very attached to many of you, as have our children and you will be missed tremendously.

Dee & Joann

Alisa & Oliver a.k.a "Gatito"

Karina & Markeeta

Donna & Ann Rose

Joann & Hadassah

Our Chilean friend Mauricio

Joann & Christian

We would like to say farewell to those of you whom we did not get a chance to catch up with before we left.

A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE, we can not say this enough!!

Just a few parting notes... we leave tomorrow afternoon and will arrive very early to Lima on Wednesday morning. We are not sure when we will be set up with a place but once everything is established and in order we will do our best to update you. Please continue to pray for Josiah as he is struggling with what was diagnosed as a skin infection... our hope is that the Lord will heal him fully of this or give us the wisdom to know how to proceed. We are so very blessed to know how many of you have committed to praying for us, we are truly humbled.

In His service... the Koplins